I See You
by Glow60
Summary: What happens when your child's imaginary friend turns out to be real?
1. Chapter 1

_What happens when your child's imaginary friend turns out to real? _

_The first chapter will be about Tony from the time of his mother's death until he goes to boarding school. I must warn you this chapter does talk about child abuse. Gibbs and the others will be showing up in the following chapters. _

_I will try and update weekly._

**I See You**

By Glow60

_**Chapter 1 **_

_**Over thirty years ago… **_

The room was filled with people but his green eyes were only focused on his father and mother. He watched as his father walked over, bend down and kissed his mother on her cheek. He listened as his father whispers how much he loved her and was going to miss her. He watched as his father slowly closed the lid to the casket. It would be the last time he would ever see his mother…

Even though he was eight years old, he really didn't understand what death was or why his mother wouldn't wake up. His father had tried on several occasions to explain it to his young son but would get a little emotional and would not be able to continue. The eight year old knew his mother had been sick because he had visited her everyday at the hospital and he had also overheard things from the doctor and nurses. He was also there the moment the alarm went off. When a nurse entered the room to disconnect the machines, he had tried to stop her. Senior grabbed him and told him to behave himself or he would get it when he got home.

The following week he stayed with his maternal grandmother because his father had some business matters to take care of that had to do with his late wife's estate and Junior's trust fund. The eight year old always loved visiting his grandmother but this time it was different. It was not the best time or place for the grieving lonely eight-year-old boy because his beloved grandmother had just lost her only child. She kept getting upset every time she looked at him. She finally called his father and told him to come and pick him up. She couldn't stand being around her own grandchild right now. He reminded her too much of her late daughter. She was truly sorry but it hurt too much.

Two weeks later, Senior was in a hurry to leave on a business trip to Europe. He was going to be gone for at least a month and he needed someone to watch his son. He had to quickly find a live-in nanny. He called an agency he had found listed in the phone book and told them what he needed. He never had to worry before about things like this before because his deceased wife would always take care of it. The agency sent a woman who was born in Italy but raised in America. She spoke fluent English, Italian and Spanish. This was the main reason Senior hired her. He figured if he decided to keep her maybe she could teach his son to speak several languages. It would give Junior a head start in school and also help him in his career. Senior always believed son would follow in his footsteps. Her name was Rose Moretti and she was in her mid twenties and very pretty. She came with very good references, which Senior never bothered to have checked. He figured if she didn't work out, he would find someone else when he got back.

The next day, Rose Moretti showed up two hours before she was supposed to. It was a little awkward because Senior had not bothered to tell his son he was leaving. He was going to do it just before the nanny showed up. He thought it would be easier on his son and himself but he was wrong.

When she was finished unpacking, Senior introduced the woman to his son.

"Miss Moretti, I would like you to meet my son, Anthony D. DiNozzo Jr. Junior, I want you to me Miss Rose Moretti she will be taking care of you while I am gone."

Junior didn't care anything about the introductions, he begged his father not to leave him behind. Senior told him he had to go on this business trip or he couldn't pay the bills. He told his son he would be back in a month. He grabbed his bags and quickly left. He thought this would make it easier on his young son.

The boy and the woman watched as the taxi left the driveway. She shut the door and grabbed Anthony by his arm. She was holding his arm so tight that it hurt him. He tried to make her release his arm but she wouldn't. "What you just did was so selfish. You should be ashamed of yourself young man. Your father works hard for his money. He has to work to put a roof over your head. How do you think he pays for all these nice things you have?"

"Please…your hurting my arm."

"I will hurt you a lot more than that if you act that way again." She then released him arm.

"Now, that your father is gone I am going to set down a few rules that you are to follow. If you don't follow these rules you will be punished. Do I make myself clear?"

Anthony just nodded his head.

"Good, now I want you to listen and you better listen good."

I have never believed children should be calling adults by their first name. So Anthony you will only address me as Miss Moretti or ma'am. Nothing else.

I believe children should be only seen and not heard. You will only speak when I ask you to. If you do need to ask me a question, you will ask permission to speak.

If I tell you to go to your room you are to do it immediately.

On my way here, I saw a park. If we go to the park you are to stay clean at all times. You can sit with me or go sit on the swing. If you do decid to play with the other children you are to stay clean or I will punish you when we get home.

Each day you are to read a book for an hour. Pay attention to what you read because I will quiz you on it when you are finished.

If you are good, you will be allowed one hour of TV.

You will go to bed at 8:00 each night and I do not want to hear TV on. If I do I will remove it from your room.

Lastly, she told her new charge to go to his room until lunchtime. She had things to do and didn't want him to pester her. Tony went up the stairs like he was told. Once he got into his room he rubbed his arm because it hurt. He rolled up his sleeve and saw a very dark bruise forming. Tears were flowing down his cheeks as he rolled his sleeve back down.

Around noontime she brought him his lunch and left. Later in the day, she called him downstairs. She told him to get his coat because she was taking him to the park. She sat down at one of the picnic tables and started reading a book. He sat down on a swing and watched as the other kids played. Some of the kids he knew from school. They tried to get him to play with them but he didn't want to do it. He didn't feel like it so he just sat on the swing moving back and forth. He was still mourning the death of his mother and now was missing his father. They stayed at the park for almost two hours before they headed back home.

For the next two weeks it was mostly the same routine. The nanny made Anthony stay in his room while she watched TV or talked to her friends on the phone. Sometimes she would even invite her friends over for lunch. When her friends were there, the child was no allowed outside his room. If she were in the mood she would teach him a little Italian. She had a couple of tapes for him to listen to. Sometimes she would only speak to him in Italian. She would never tell him what she was saying. She wanted him to figure it out on his own. She laughed when he didn't understand her. She would tell him how stupid he was in the Italian and laugh about it. They did go to the park everyday.

One morning, Anthony was sitting at the top stairs and listening to his nanny talk to someone on the phone about what a great job she has. How there was not a single parent around and all she had to do was send the kid to his room. She had the rest of the time to herself.

One day while he was sitting on the swing in the park, when something caught his eye. Whatever it was it was moving fast in the wooded area. It looked like white and the color of lilacs. Even though he couldn't really make out its form, Anthony continued to watch it move. Just as he was getting ready to jump off the swing and go check it out he heard Miss Moretti yell to him that is was time to go home. Anthony looked one last time and left.

It was around six o'clock; Anthony had finished eating dinner and was up in his room reading a book. He heard a tapping noise on the window. He looked up and saw a strange creature trying to get in. Whatever it was, it looked almost humanlike. It was about the same size as he was. Its skin was a light purple. The hair was very long and white as new fallen snow. It had pointed ears and dark purple catlike eyes with red specs in them. It wore only a brown loincloth and matching vest.

It tapped again on the window and smiled, "Please let me in. I want to play with you."

Tony got up and moved toward the window. For some strange reason he wasn't scared. He studied the creature.

Tony stopped when he was about a foot from the window. "What are you?"

"My name is ___Tackdeillseilfjsltleuladkd_."

"No…that is not what I just asked you, what kind of creature are you?"

It shrugged its shoulders. "I don't know. I didn't know I was a creature? I am just me."

"You are not human. Where did you come from?"

"I come from here and there. I guess…you can say I come from everywhere? Can you let me in, pleeeease? I am cold and lonely. I want to play with you."

The boy didn't feel threatened at all. He slowly opened the window. The creature jumped down on the floor. It looked around and then turned back to the human boy who stood before him. It smiled at him.

"I told you my name is ___Tackdeillseilfjsltleuladkd_, what is your name?"

"My father calls me Junior. My first name is Anthony but I like to be called Tony instead. You can call me that."

It looked at the human child and shook it's head. "Nope, I don't like any of your names. Let's see, I am going to call you Smiley because you smile so much."

"I do not?"

"Yes, you do."

"No I don't"

"Oh, yes you do?" The creature started making faces until the child started to grin.

"See Smiley, I told you so."

Tony grinned. "Well, I don't like your name either. I don't think I can even pronounce it. So, I am only going to call you just Tac."

The creature tilted his head and moved closer to the boy, "I like Tac. You may call me that. Now Smiley, where are your toys? I would like to see what you have."

Tony was still smiling as he pointed to the door, "They are in the closet."

Tac walked over to the closet and then turned quickly back to Tony, "Why are they in there and not out here with you? Why do you not play with them? Toys…are meant to be played with and it is ashame for them to be hidden in the closet."

"My…my mom died a few weeks ago… I…I still miss her and I don't feel like playing with them anymore."

Tac walked over to the boy and placed his hands on the child's shoulders, "Yes, death will do that to you every time but you must understand life does go on. You cannot let death take over your heart or your mind. Your mom would not want that for you. She would want the best for you. She would want you to be happy and live a long life. She would want you to play with your toys. She would want all those things for you and more. What about your father does he not play with you?"

"My…my father is away on business. He never has time to play with me."

"Who is taking care of you now?"

"Miss Moretti…"

"Do you like her? Does she not play with you? Everyone should have some playtime, even adults."

Tony just shook his head. The creature could tell the boy didn't want to talk about her so he decided to change the question.

"Now, can I please play with your toys?"

Tony nodded and pointed toward the closet. "Help yourself."

He watched as Tac opened the door. The purple creature was thrilled to see all the different toys. He started pulling them out and checking each one. He pulled out some strange looking black strips and was puzzled by them. "What is this?"

"They are Hot Wheel Tracks."

Tony watched as the creature held the tracks and laughed. "There is nothing hot about them."

Tony giggled, "They are not hot, silly. That's just their name."

Tac smiled when he heard the child giggle, "Please show how you play with them."

Tony placed the strips of track on the floor and then put them together. Next he placed the racing car on the track. Tac watched as the car went down the track and into the loop. Tac jumped for joy. He had to try it. His car did not make it trough the loop. He looked at the boy for help. Tony had to show him several times before he finally got it. Once he did it he wanted to go to the next toy.

"What other toys do you have? Can you show me please?"

Tony looked at his new friend, "Why do you talk that way?"

"What way?"

"Why are you so polite?"

Tac smiled, "I once had this little friend whose name was Laura. She loved to have tea parties and I always had to be polite or she wouldn't let me play."

"What happened to your friend?"

"She's grown up now and no longer needs me. Now, can I please see the rest of your toys?"

For the next few hours Tony showed his new friend all his toys and how each one of them worked. While doing so the boy found out that Tac was a male and centuries old. His kind had special powers but he would not tell the child what they were. Adult Humans would call them their children's imaginary friends. His kind can change into any shape and form so the child will not be afraid of them. Sometimes they would even appear as a dead relative. He told Tony that he was a very special child because Tony was able to see him as he is and the boy was not afraid. Tac also told him that there were very few of his kind left on this earth and they only visit the children that believe in them and needed them. What he didn't tell the boy was once a child no longer needs them they would simply go away and the child would never see them again. Some would find another child to be with or they would simply vanish and never be seen again. It was very rare for a child to remember them when they grew up.

It was two weeks later, when Senior finally returned home from his business trip. He went to check on his son and he heard laughing coming from behind his son's room. He smiled; it was so good to hear his child was happy again. He opened the door and found his son lying on the bed reading a book. Tony jumped up when he saw his father and ran over and hugged him. It reminded Senior of when his wife was still alive.

Senior told Rose Moretti to go ahead and take a paid week off because he wanted to spend some time with his son. For the next couple of days, he took Tony to the park, zoo, and a baseball game. Saturday, they went to visit Uncle Vincenzo the butcher. It was Uncle Vincenzo's birthday and he was having a family cookout and invited all the family. It was one of the best times Tony ever had with his father. During this time, Tac stayed away to allow the father and son to bond.

Senior thought it was Rose Moretti who was responsible for bringing joy back into his young son's life. So, he decided to offer her a permanent position in taking care of his son. The father should have taken the time to ask his son what he thought of his nanny but he didn't. If he had, he would have found out how his son spends most of the time in his room. He would have also found out how she abuses his son.

The following week, Senior left on another trip. This time he was going to be gone for six weeks. Before he left he hugged his son and told him to be a good boy and behave himself while he was gone. If he was good he might bring him something back.

Tac didn't like the woman. He didn't like the way she treated his young friend. He decided to get her back one-day while she was reading a book at the picnic table. He had enticed a flock of birds to fly over and poop all over her. Without meaning it he got Tony into trouble. Tony really didn't see what happened to his nanny but he was watching Tac laugh and he started laughing with him. Miss Moretti thought Tony was laughing at her. Once they got home, she went and got one of Senior's belts and used it on her young charge. This was the first time she ever whipped him. She sent the boy to his bed without supper.

Tac climbed through the open window and found the child already asleep. He walked over to the bed. He saw the welps left from the whipping. He touched the child's hair and whispered, "I am so sorry, Smiley. I didn't mean for her to punish you for something I did. I promise you this I will make her pay for what she did." For the next few days, while Tony was having trouble sitting, Rose Moretti was living her worst nightmare. She seemed not to be able to do anything right without tripping, spilling, and tearing her clothes. He also put laxatives into her food. She spent most of her time in the bathroom…

A couple of days later, Tony found out what his friend was doing and made him promise to stop. Tony was scared of his nanny and didn't want any more trouble with Miss Moretti. At first, Tac wouldn't make any promise until Tony threatened to send him away. Tac finally promised he would leave her alone.

Most of the time, Tony managed to stay out of Miss Moretti's way. He was now going to school and he only saw her before and after school. When he got home he had to report to her how his day went. If he had any homework he had to do it in the kitchen. She would make him dinner and then send him to his room for the night. Tac would always be waiting for him by the time he got there.

Sometimes Tony didn't do anything wrong, Miss Moretti would be angry with one of her friends and she took it out on the child. She would always hit him in areas where his clothes would cover the welts. She would always make sure she never hit him the few weeks before Senior came home because she didn't want him to see any marks. For some strange reason in her sick mind she sometimes liked to take pictures of her dirty work. She would make Tony take his clothes off so she could take pictures of the welts. If she needed to she would show them to Tony and threatened do it again to him if he didn't mind her. All Tac could do was watch and be there for his young friend. He made a promise and he had to keep it.

_**Two and a half years later…**_

Financially, for the past couple of years things were going very well for Senior so he decided to spend time at home. He had planned to spend it with his son but he ended up having an affair with Rose Moretti. Shortly after they were married. Tony stayed with his father's brother while the newlyweds were on their honeymoon. During that time, Rose convinced Senior into sending his son off to boarding school so they can have some time alone. She told him it would be good for Anthony to be around other children his own age instead of being cooped up in that big old house.

The day after they returned from their honeymoon, Senior called his son into his office. Rose was standing next to him, "Junior, Rose and I need some time alone. So, we can get to know each other a little better. We can't do that with you always around. So, I have registered you into boarding school. It will be good for you to be with other boys your own age. You will be leaving in two weeks. Rose will help you to get ready."

Tony looked at the woman and saw the slight smile on her face. He then looked at his father. At first he just sat there and stared at his father in disbelief. He couldn't believe his father was sending him away. What had he done wrong? He started crying, "Dad, please don't send me away. I will be good."

"Junior, DiNozzo men don't cry. You are going and that is final."

Tac followed him to the boarding school. Once Tony was around other boys it became harder and harder for them to be together. Tac decided it was time for him to leave but before he left he needed to take care of something. He had promised Tony he would leave Miss Moretti alone. Now, he felt he no longer was obligated to keep that promise with his young friend. So, now he would get his revenge.

_**Senior's house…**_

Rose decided to go shopping with some of her girlfriends; Senior was going through the closet looking for some papers that had belonged to his first wife. He found a box that he had never seen before. He opened it up and was shocked at what he saw inside. There were at least ten to fifteen pictures showing welt marks all over his son's body. There was one picture that caught his attention. It showed a reflection of Rose in a mirror taking a picture of his son. She was grinning. Senior was so angry he wanted to kill her. It was a good thing she was not home because it gave him time to calm down.

When Rose finally arrived at home, Senior was waiting for her. He confronted her as soon as she walked into the house. There was nothing she could say or do. Senior ordered her to pack her things and get the hell out of his house. He warned Rose that he was filing for a divorce the first thing tomorrow and if she contested it he would have her arrested for abusing his son.

Rose packed her bags and took a taxi to the train station. She bought her ticket and was standing out on the platform as the train entered the station. A gust of wind come out of nowhere and blew the ticket out of her hand. It landed on the edge of the platform. She reached down to pick it up when a man from out of nowhere tripped over her bag and accidently pushed her onto the tracks. She watched in horror as the train headed toward her. There was nothing anyone could do.

Tac was sitting on one of the benches watching the whole thing. He smiled his job here was finally done…


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for all the reviews & alerts. I really appreciate them. They do help me to know if I am doing the story right or not._

_This chapter is going to deal mainly with Tony's time at NCIS and then something is going to happen. I don't want to give it away so that is all I am going to say._

_For those of you who are wondering if Tac is going to be back. He will start showing up again in the next chapter. _

**_Chapter 2_**

**_Washington D.C._**

Anthony D. DiNozzo smiled as he looked at the piece of paper he held in his hands. He was no longer a homicide detective working in Baltimore but a federal agent who will be working for NCIS in Washington DC. He had passed all the training classes and was at the top of his class. Tomorrow he would be reporting to one very Special NCIS Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Tony finally felt good for the first time in weeks. He had been angry and hurt when he found out his ex partner Danny Price was a dirty cop. He had decided that day he didn't want anything more to do with the man. He had always felt a special kinship with Danny because both men came from wealthy families whose fathers were always too busy to spend time with them. Both men were also sent to boarding schools when they were young. Once he realized Danny was crooked, he didn't even want to work in Baltimore anymore. He wasn't sure what he was going to do until Gibbs had offered him a job at NCIS.

Tony looked out into the small audience of the families and friends who had come to watch the small ceremony for the new agents. He didn't expect anyone to be there for him. He had invited his father but as usual Senior was too busy to show up. He had hoped to see Wendy but he knew that wasn't going to happen. They had split up a couple of few weeks back. He still found it hard to believe how she had just left him standing at the altar. She told him she was calling it off because she didn't want to marry him anymore and she won't explain why. The next day after she called it off, he packed up his things and moved out of their apartment into a motel near NCIS.

As he started to walk out of the room he was surprised to see Gibbs waiting near the door. He wondered who the NCIS agent was here for.

Gibbs smiled and shook his hand, "Congratulations very Special NCIS Agent DiNozzo."

Tony smiled, "Gibbs, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see the newest member of my team graduate." Gibbs looked around and noticed that Tony was alone. He had heard about the younger man's wedding being called off. He decided not to bring the subject up. Gibbs himself was going through a very nasty divorce.

"Do you have any plans when you get out of here?"

Tony smiled, "I was going to look around for an apartment. It's a little expensive living in a motel and renting a storage unit for all my things."

Gibbs smiled, "DiNozzo, how about I buy you lunch first? My treat…I got a good friend who is trying to rent out an apartment not too far from here. The rent's not too bad and it's a really nice neighborhood. If you like it, I am pretty sure you can move into it today. I have a truck and I can help you get your things out of storage. I can take you over there after we eat."

At first, Tony wasn't sure what to say. He never had anybody go out of their way to help him like this, "That…that would be great. Thanks Gibbs."

The next day, he spent about an hour in HR filling out all the necessary paperwork. Once he was finished there, Gibbs took him on a tour of the building and introduced him to Director Morrow, Ducky, Abby and several agents from the other teams. Lastly, Gibbs introduced him to Agent Vivian Blackadder. She was the other member of Gibbs' Team. The more Tony got to know her the less he liked her. She was just too serious about everything. He was glad when Gibbs had her transferred to another team. The senior agent did like the way she handle herself in Spain. She almost got them all killed because of her own obsession to avenge her brother's death.

For the next year, Gibbs' team consisted of just Gibbs and Tony. He learned a lot from the man. There were so many times Gibbs would be hard on him and he knew he deserved it. There were also those special times when he did extremely well and he could see it in Gibbs' smile. For some strange reason he always felt the need to please this man. He felt he had a special bond with him and he wanted to keep it that way. Tony never felt that way with anyone else.

A little over a year and a half later, Katelyn Todd joined the team. At first, Tony was a little jealous of her. He was afraid he was going to lose his place on the team. Every now and then Gibbs would only take her on an investigation with him so he could work with her one on one. He wanted to teach her some of the finer points in investigating and also evaluate her progress. Tony didn't realize it at first and was beginning to feel left out. As time passed he finally realized he was still a valuable member of the team. Katelyn did fit in well with the two men. Most of the time, Tony got along with her but Todd always knew how to push his buttons. Subconsciously, he did enjoy working with her even though he would never tell her.

A little later, Agent Timothy McGee joined the group. He was a computer geek and was so green. Tony felt like he now had a little brother to pick on. Tony loved to annoy him. Tony didn't really want to change him but he felt the need to toughen him up just a little. It became a game with Tony and it was also a game that sometimes McGee would win.

One day Tony opened a letter that had white powder in it. He almost died from the plague. Gibbs came and told him he would not die and he didn't. While Tony was recuperating at home, he tried to call his father to let him know what happened to him. He kept going into his father's voicemail. He finally gave up because he was just too tired to continue. He really didn't know what he would say to his father anyway. He wasn't even sure if his father would care or not.

While Tony was recuperating at home, McGee, Abby, Ducky and Kate came by to visit him and bring hims some home cooked meals. No matter how much he annoyed the hell out of them they did care about him. They were all sure he wasn't in the mood to do any grocery shopping or cooking. Abby and Kate were worried he wasn't taking care of himself. They joked with him about why he didn't have a pretty woman in his apartment taking care of him right now. Tony grinned if they only knew the truth. Tony may act like the playboy but he was far from it. Most of the time when he told them he had a hot date it was usually a date with a movie or a good book. Yes, Tony does read and he does not always look at the pretty pictures. While they were there, Ducky ordered Tony to sit down so he could check the younger man's blood pressure and temperature. Tony tried to protest but the ME would not hear any of it. McGee, Abby and Kate decided to straighten up his apartment. When Kate and Abby started on his laundry, Tony tried to stop them.

"Hey, what do you two think you are doing?"

"What do you think we are going to do DiNozzo? We are going to do your laundry."

Tony tried to grab his clothes, "Oh, no you're not…Aaabbbby."

"Yes, we are Tooonnny."

"I can do these myself."

Abby moved within a few inches of his face, "Tony, if you do not go sit or lie down, I am going to call Gibbs. He will make sure you rest. NOW you go lie down and let Kate and I do your laundry. Now go…go…shoo or I will call Gibbs."

As Tony was walking away, he could hear Abby tell Kate, "See Kate, I told you he wears boxers. You owe me twenty bucks. Now pay up."

Tony raised his eyebrows but continue to head back into the living room.

Gibbs also stopped by a couple of times to check on him and make sure he had everything he needed. He brought pizza with him every time. They sat in silence, ate and watched a movie together.

Tony went back to work early because he was going crazy doing nothing. Gibbs didn't push it because he understood Tony. He knew the younger man was a very hyper person and needed something to do. He would just keep an eye on him. Within weeks of his recovery, Katelyn was dead and buried. They had a new director Jenny Shepard and Ziva David joined their team. Tony found Director Shepard and Ziva to be both very intelligent and strong women. He wasn't sure how to get along with these two women because he charm didn't seem to work on neither of them. As time passed he grew to like and respect them both.

_**Missing…**_

It was late; Tony was sitting in his apartment watching the last of the movie when he heard the doorbell ring. He wasn't expecting anyone. He walked over and peeked through the peephole. He saw what looked like a pizza deliveryman. He hadn't ordered anything. He opened the door, "Sorry, buddy but you got the wrong apartment because I didn't…."

Before Tony could say anything else, the man pointed a gun right at his face. "Move back into your apartment or I will shoot you right here." Tony raised his hands and did as he was told. The deliveryman followed him into the apartment. Right behind him were two very tall muscular men and an older man. The older man closed the door after everyone was inside.

Tony stood there with his hands raised. He noticed they were all wearing gloves. Before Tony could say anything, the older man walked behind Tony and handcuffed his hands behind his back. He whispered in Tony's ear, "You do not realize how much you are going to help me get even with your boss."

Tony tried to turn so he could get a better look at the man but one of the other men stopped him. "What has my boss done to you?"

Tony never saw the needle but he felt it go into his arm. The drug took effect immediately. The last thing he remembered before everything went black was the pizza delivery guy laughing, "I told you it would be a piece of cake. He should be out for the next few hours."

It was late in the evening, so they were not too worried about dragging an unconscious man out of the building. Most people were asleep by now. Once they got him in the van, they drove to a small airport where a plane was waiting for them. The plane flew nonstop to Colorado. They took him to an old abandon warehouse on the outskirts of Denver. They wanted to make sure nobody would find him that easy.

Once inside the building, they removed the cuffs and stripped the unconscious NCIS agent of all his clothes. He was dressed in white pajamas and placed inside a very small padded white room with no windows or furniture. They closed the door and then went into the next room where two other men were working. They turned on all the monitors. They could see the unconscious man from every angle. Now they would wait for him to wake up.

"Williams, I know I owe you big time for helping me out of that jam last year? I did tell you I would pay you back anyway I can but you didn't tell me he was going to be a federal agent. We can get ourselves in some serious trouble here. I would like to know why I am risking my freedom and maybe my life for this."

Williams smiled as he watched the monitor. He didn't want to take his eyes off of it; "Jack, you are here to help me to destroy Special NCIS Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs for taking my son's life from me and destroying my military career. I have waiting all there years to get even with that bastard. I am going to destroy him by destroying his son."

"I know Gibbs, rumor has it he had a wife and daughter who were killed years ago. I never heard he had a son?"

"Agent DiNozzo isn't his son but he is the closest thing Gibbs has to as a son. He is Gibbs' protégé. We destroy DiNozzo we destroy Gibbs."

"Why not just kill Gibbs?"

Williams laughed out loud, "Then, there would be any fun in it besides it would be too quick. I can do more damage if I do it my way and enjoy it for a much longer time. Gibbs is very good at what he does but he made that one big mistake."

"What was that?"

"He got too close to his team especially this one. I want him to suffer for killing my son. I want him to pay for destroying my military career. If Gibbs had not squealed on me, I would have been an officer and maybe my son would be alive today."

Jack looked at the unconscious man on the monitor and felt a little sorry for him. He had seen what Williams was capable of…


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for all the reviews and alerts._

_I had planned to not post this chapter until next Friday but I got it done sooner than I planned. I really hope you like it._

_**Chapter 3**_

It was around four in the morning, when Gibbs had tried to call Tony. He kept going into his senior field agent's voicemail. He was going to kill DiNozzo when he gets his hands a hold of him. Nobody on his team was supposed to be unreachable. He thought he had beat that into the younger man head years ago…

_**Abby's Lab…**_

It was almost six in the morning; McGee, Ziva, Ducky, Abby and Gibbs were down in Abby's lab going over the new evidence on a very old cold case that involved a retired admiral who happen to be a good friend of SecNav Clayton Jarvis. The senior agent had ordered Abby to run some of the tests all over again because he knew Jarvis was going to make them do it. Abby didn't argue because she could tell Gibbs was not in a very good mood at the moment and she was so glad she was not in DiNozzo's shoes right now. She knew Gibbs was going to kill him.

The eighteen-year-old cold case was to do with the murder of an Admiral's wife. Back then, both Mike Franks and Gibbs were convinced the Admiral had murdered his own wife but NCIS was never able to prove. They just didn't have the sophisticated equipment and people they have today. So, they had to let the admiral go. Gibbs now believed after all these years; they finally have the evidence that was needed to arrest the retired Admiral. Before they could prosecute the man they needed to go over their evidence with SecNav and JAG. Gibbs had been relying on Tony to be there with him at the conference call early this morning.

Gibbs walked out of the elevator and headed toward the bullpen. Ziva and McGee followed behind him. Tony's desk was still empty. "Where the hell is DiNozzo?"

"I don't know boss, but I did try calling him just a few minutes ago and it went into his voicemail."

Gibbs picked up some papers off his desk and headed toward the stairs, "McGee, I'll be in MTAC. If and when DiNozzo decides to make an appearance tell him to get his ass up there and he better be here soon or he won't have a job."

Ziva waited until Gibbs disappeared up the stairs. She walked over to McGee, "I wonder why Tony is late. He usually calls one of us to let us know. Do you think he might have been in an accident on the way to work?"

"I have already checked traffic reports and there have been no reported accidents in this area. Give me…a…second; I am…going to check the location of his cell phone? Ziva…this is bad."

"What is bad, McGee?"

"Tony's cellphone signal is showing that he is still at home. For some reason he is not answering it. Tony's never had been this late without calling one of us.

"Maybe he is on his way and he forgot his phone? He's done that before."

McGee stood up and grabbed his bag, "Ziva…I really…really have a bad feeling. Tony was looking forward to this conference call. After all, he was the one who found the evidenced that proved the admiral killed his wife. If Gibbs comes down tell him I went to Tony's apartment to check on him and to make sure he is okay."

When McGee arrived at Tony's apartment building he noticed Tony's car was still park in his parking space. The elevator wasn't working, so McGee walked up the three flights of stairs and knocked on Tony's door. There was no answer. He decided to pick the lock. Once he was inside, he could hear a noise coming from the living room. He called out but there was no answer. He walked into the living room and saw the TV was on. He found Tony's badge, cell phone and wallet laying on the coffee table. Tony's gun was where he usually puts it. He checked the bedroom and he could tell the bed had not been slept in. McGee checked Tony's land phone to see if there was any messages. There were several messages from last night that Tony never checked on. McGee picked up Tony's cell phone and checked it, same thing. McGee pulled out his cell phone and called Gibbs.

"Gibbs."

"Boss, I am at Tony's apartment. All his stuff is here but he is not."

"What about his car?"

"His car is parked outside. His keys, guns, badge, wallet and cell phone are all here, Boss."

"Stay where you are, Ziva and I will be there in shortly."

Once Gibbs and Ziva arrived, they search the apartment for any clue that would tell them what happen to their friend and coworker. When they found nothing, Gibbs ordered Ziva and McGee to question the neighbors while he went to talk with the building manager. Tony's building had surveillance cameras only in the parking lot and they were not monitored. As it turned out, the cameras have been broken for couple of months and the building manager never bothered to get them fixed. "McGee have a BOLO put out on Tony. If someone has taken him there will be hell to pay." Gibbs was now angry with himself. He should have sense something was wrong instead being angry with DiNozzo for being late.

_**Almost 1,500 miles away on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado…**_

Tony woke up. The room he was in was very bright and it hurt his eyes. When he was finally able to see he could tell that he was in a white padded room. The room was round and about fifteen feet across. Everything was white. He looked to see if he could find an opening but there was none. When he sat up and realized that he was dressed in what looked like white pajamas. He crawled closer to the wall and started feeling around for the door. He could not find one. He tried calling out but nobody answered. When he didn't get an answer he sat down and leaned back against the wall. He tried to remember how he got there. He did remember the deliveryman and the three other men with him. That's all he could remember. He tried again to call out but still no answer.

In the next room, three men were watching the NCIS agent on a monitor. "Williams, now that we have DiNozzo, what do you plan to do with him?"

The man smiled as he looked at the monitor, "My friends, you are about to find out what my specialty was back in my military days. I could get anyone do or say anything by the time I was finished with them. I had found my true calling in torturing and brainwashing."

Williams turned and looked at his friend, "Back then when I was in the military, Gibbs and I were both sergeants at the time. We were working with a group of marines teaching them what to expect if they were ever captured and how to handed the situation. Gibbs reported me because he believed I went too far with some of soldier because they ended up in the hospital. The military investigated the way I treated those wimps and throw me out of the service that I loved so much. I swore one day I would get my revenge on that bastard of a Gibbs."

"Even after I was thrown out of the military I still kept up with the latest techniques and drugs for torturing and brainwashing. Isolation turned out to be my favorite. I love stripping away a person's identity. When they are at their lowest point I will take away their last bit of hope. My friend, when I am through with Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, he will be of no use to Gibbs anymore. He will not be able to do anything for himself. He will be living in his own little world and not aware of the people around him. And once I have him the way I want him, I am going to give him right back to his mentor."

Jack was the first to ask, "Why in the hell would you do that?"

Williams moved closer to his friend and laughed, "For the fun of it. It is going to be great to watch to Gibbs and see how he is going to handle a very none responsive DiNozzo."

"Watch, how in the hell are you going to do that? You can't go there. And there is no way in hell I am going near that place."

"Relax my friend, I got someone already in mind. He is in the medical field."

"What are you going to do if Gibbs figures it out and comes after you?"

Williams laughed out loud, "Gibbs thinks I'm dead. I was reported killed in a car accident several years ago. It was so tragic. I now have a new identity. He will never be able to connect the dots."

_**Gibbs house…**_

Three months and eighteen days later, Gibbs was in his basement working on his new project. He was making goddaughter a dollhouse for her birthday. He poured himself a drink. He and his team had just finished a really tough case and they had the next four days off. As he was sipping his bourbon he was thinking about Tony. There was not a day that went by where he didn't think about his young subordinate and friend. He was still trying to figure out what happened to him. They never found anything that could help locate their missing friend. As he was sanding one of the walls to the dollhouse he heard a knock on the door. Normally he would just yell to come in but he decided to answer it. It turned about to be his nosey neighbor from across the street. He didn't really mind her because she had helped him a couple of times when someone was snooping around his house,

"Mrs. Tyler, what can I do for you?"

"Jethro, there is nothing you can do for me but I think there is something wrong with one of your young friends."

"One of my young friends?"

"Yes, although I haven't seen him in a quite a while. He used to come around here a lot. You know…the good-looking one? It's that young man…the one who owns the black Mustang and he likes to talk a lot. My lord, I have never heard a young man talk as much as he can."

Gibbs knew immediately who she was talking about, "Mrs. Tyler, what about him? Where is he?"

"He is just sitting out on your front lawn. I tried to say hello to him but he just kept staring at something across the street. I really think there is something wrong with him. You should go see if the young man is okay or not. I really am worried about him."

Gibbs ran past her and headed toward the front of the house. He opened the door and couldn't believe his eyes. After all these months there was Tony just sitting on the grass rocking back and forth.

The closer Gibbs got he could see the changes in the younger man. Tony's hair was little longer and he had lost a lot of weight and there were dark circles under his eyes. What got Gibbs the most was the blank stare. Gibbs bent down and stopped the younger man from rocking. He touched Tony's chin and turned the younger man's face toward him so he could get a better look.

Tony would not make eye contact.

"Tony," he whispered but there was not answer.

Gibbs reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. "Ducky, I need you to come over to my house right now."

"Jethro, I just…"

"Ducky, please its Tony. He is here…at my house. I need you to come now. Bring your medical bag. There is something wrong with him."

"Jethro I will be there in as soon as I can."

Gibbs helped Tony up and guided him into the house. It was easy to manipulate him; once Gibbs took Tony's hand the younger man just followed him. Tony never said a word or made any kind of eye contact. Gibbs had Tony sit down on his couch. He sat next to him and waited until Ducky arrived. Gibbs just sat there staring; he was having trouble believing that Tony was there with him in his house. It didn't take Ducky long to get there. The ME started examining the younger man immediately. "Jethro, there isn't anything physically wrong with him that I can tell. Right now, there is not much I can do for him. We really need to take him to the hospital so they can run some test on him to see what is wrong.

_**George Washington University Hospital**__** - Four Hours later…**_

Both Gibbs and Doctor Mallard stood up as the doctor walked into the emergency waiting room. They shook hands with the doctor as he introduced himself.

"My name is Doctor Nathan Smith. The emergency room doctor called me in to examine your agent because I have had some experience with patients who are in a catatonic state like this. I need to asked something first before we get started. Was your agent involved in any special mission recently?"

Ducky looked at Gibbs and then back to the doctor. "Agent DiNozzo has been missing for months. We are not sure what happened to him."

"Well, I have seen something like this before when I was a doctor in the Marine Corps. It was with soldiers who were kept in isolation for long periods of time. Some were prisoners of war and others who were drugged and tortured. Right now, Agent DiNozzo is not aware of his surroundings. You could put him in a room full of people and he would not be aware of one single person in there."

"Is this permanent?"

"I really don't know. I know it's an old cliché but only time will tell. I do want to warn you that we did find some traces of drugs in his system but we couldn't tell what they were. They are just about out of his system. There are also signs that he was fed by a tube. His esophagus is somewhat raw. I think it was from inserting a tube in and out of his throat over a period of time. He was also given enemas and catheters."

"Why would they do that?"

"It's a technique some military interrogators use to use to keep a person unaware of any human contact. They kept them in a room by themselves for months. They would drug them once their subject was unconscious they feed them enough food to just to keep them alive. They would also take care of their body waste while they were unconscious. This way, the poor bastard would not be aware of any human contact what so ever. Eventually they would give up and their minds would shut down. It was why I was asking you earlier if he was involved in any special mission."

Ducky just shook he head, "It never ceases to amaze me how cruel mankind can be."

"We will be moving him to a private room shortly. He can have visitors once we get him settle in. I must warn you he will not be aware that anyone is there. Don't expect too much from him because you are not going to get it."

"We understand."

While Gibbs stayed with Tony, Ducky called the others to let them know. Within a half an hour they were all showed up. It had been so long since they had seen their missing friend. Gibbs stepped out of the room to allow them some privacy with their friend. He also warned each one of them not to expect any reaction from Tony.

Abby went first. She had missed her friend dearly. It bothered her that Tony's green eyes were open and just staring at the ceiling. She walked over and bent down and kissed him on the cheek. She then whispered in his ear, "Tony, I…we all missed you so much. You have come this far to get back with us. I know in time you will come the rest of the way. I…we will gladly wait until you are ready. I have to go now so the others have a chance to see you. Oh and by the way, you still owe Sister Mary the ten dollars you borrowed from the last bowling game. She hasn't forgotten it." She kissed him on the cheek again and left

McGee, Ziva and Palmer took their turns visiting their catatonic friend. Once they were finished, Gibbs could see from their expressions they were relieved that Tony was alive but they were all also worried about if he was going to get better or not.

Gibbs handed Abby a bag. It was the clothes Tony was wearing when he was found on Gibbs' lawn. "Abby, see if you can find anything on these clothes that might help us to find out where Tony was all this time."

He turned to McGee and Ziva and ordered them to go back to his house and see if they might be able to find someone who might have seen who dropped Tony off. Also he wanted them to check his lawn and see if anything might give them a clue.

Next, Gibbs called the director to let him know about DiNozzo. When he got off his cellphone he went back into Tony's room. Gibbs moved closer to Tony's bed. He turned Tony's head so he could stare into those green eyes. "Tony, I know you are in there somewhere? We will figure out a way to get you to come back to us. There is no way, I am going to give up on you."

The green eyes showed no sign of movement.

After three weeks, Gibbs and the others were no closer to finding out what happened to Tony or who took him. There was nothing they could do. Tony hadn't said a word or acknowledged anyone. Gibbs had tried to contact Tony's father but Senior was too busy and kept making all kinds of excuses why he couldn't come. He told Gibbs that he was in the middle of a really big deal. He promised when he was finished he would be there. He knew his son was in good hands so he was not worried. If Gibbs could have shot him through the phone he would have.

Tony's doctor told Gibbs there was nothing more they could do for him. The doctor wanted to put Tony in a nursing home. Gibbs refused. Tony had made Gibbs his next of kin just incase something had happened to him. There was no way Gibbs was going to allow Tony to be put away and everyone forget about him. Tony deserved better than that.

Gibbs invited Abby, McGee, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer over to his house and told them of his plan. He was going to have Tony come live with him. He would hire someone to take care of Tony while he was at work. He asked his friends for their help. Gibbs thought it would be Abby who spoke up first but he was wrong. It was McGee, "Boss, all you had to do is ask. I can't speak for the others but I do believe they feel the same way I do. Tony is sometimes a pain in the ass but he is our pain. We love him and he is part of our family. We will do anything it takes to get our Tony back as himself. If Tony never gets any better then we will still love him and help to take care of him." Gibbs listened as the rest of them jumped into the conversation. It was unanimous.

_**A very special friend from the past…**_

Several days later, Gibbs started interviewing people to help take care of Tony. One of the people he interviewed was an ex marine by the name of Thomas Allen Carter. The young man was taking night classes to further his career. Gibbs liked him the moment he met him. He had never seen or heard a man of his age that was so smart and polite. At first, Gibbs was just a little taken back because of the politeness. He had McGee run a background check on the man. Everything checked out okay. So, Gibbs hired him. During the day Thomas would watch Tony. On the nights when Thomas had classes and Gibbs was busy one of the others would step in and watch Tony.

After the first month of Tony's disappearance, Gibbs had decided there was no sense in keep paying rent on Tony's apartment. So, he had Tony's things moved into a storage unit. He would keep them safe for Tony just incase he was found.

Everyone was helping to get Gibbs' house ready for Tony arrival. Gibbs and Ziva moved all the stuff out the spare room and into the attic. Ducky had suggested that they make the spare room look just like Tony's old bedroom. It might help jog his memory. So he and Abby went to the store to get the paint. When they got back they started painting the room. While they were doing that, McGee and Palmer went to storage unit to get a few of Tony's things. After they loaded up the bedroom set and all the stuff that had been in his bedroom room, they decided to take Tony's Panasonic 50" Plasma HDTV and his DVD player back to Gibbs' house. They were hoping it would get Tony's attention. Lastly, they took some of Tony's favorite DVDs. Maybe they would help to get Tony's attention. They left his clothes there for now because they were too big for him to wear. When they got back Palmer helped Gibbs setup Tony's stuff in the bedroom. While they were doing that, McGee setup the TV and DVD player in the living room. When they were finished, Gibbs ordered pizza and they sat around and talked about all the fun times they had with Tony.

Two days later Thomas moved his stuff into the other spare room. The next day, Ducky, Gibbs and Thomas went to the hospital to talk with the doctors and nurses who were caring for DiNozzo. Gibbs watched and listened as Ducky and Thomas got all the information they were going to need to take care of their friend. Both Gibbs and Ducky were impressed with Thomas' questions. They wondered why this man was not trying to become a doctor. He had the intelligence for it.

The following Monday, Gibbs and Thomas brought Tony home from the hospital. They helped him to his room and into bed. Gibbs sat down next to the bed. As he stared at his young friend sleeping he was wondering if he was doing the right thing. What if he was hurting him more than helping him?

It was around noontime when Thomas knocked on the bedroom door to tell Gibbs that lunch was ready. Gibbs led Tony downstairs and into the kitchen. Tony just sat there staring as Thomas spoon-fed him.

After the three men were finished eating, Thomas guided Tony into the living room and sat him on a mat on the floor. Gibbs walked over and turned the TV on. He looked through the DVDs and tried to decide which one Tony would like to watch. He came across Avatar. He remembered he had heard Tony and McGee talking about it one time in the bullpen. Tony mentioned how much he liked the movie and how hot the blue chick was. Gibbs smiled and decided to put the disk into the player. He was hoping for some kind of reaction. When there was none, Gibbs took one last look at his friend before he headed down to the basement. He told Thomas if he needed him for anything he would be there.

Thomas waited until he heard the last of the footsteps. He wanted to make sure Gibbs could not hear or see what he was about to do. He slowly sat down in front of the unresponsive man. He studied the other man's face for a few seconds. He smiled as he stared into those green eyes. Thomas eyes changed into dark purple catlike eyes with red specs.

He smiled and whispered, "Smiley, I see you. Do you see me?"


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you always for your reviews and alerts._

_Okay to help a little with any confusion about who is who._

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_Please forgive me if I mess up._

_This chapter is going to be mostly about Tac/Thomas. I just wanted to give a some history on him. I hope I didn't go too overboard with it._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 4**_

When Tac didn't get any kind of acknowledgement from his friend, he whispered softly into his ear, "Smiley, do you remember me? Do you remember your old friend Tac?" When that didn't work he tried making faces hoping to get a reaction. It had always worked on Tony in the past. As he was sitting there trying to think about what to do next he heard a knock on the back door. He turned, he could hear Gibbs yell from the basement to whoever it is that the door was unlocked. His eyes changed back to human looking eyes.

A few seconds later, Ducky walked into the room and smiled at Thomas. The M.E. placed a book and some pamphlets on the coffee table. "I talked with several of my colleagues and they recommended these. I have already read them and thought you might like to look at them. They have some very interesting articles in them. They may help us figure out a way to bring our dear boy back to us."

Thomas picked up the book and fanned through it. As he started looking through the pamphlets, Ducky walked over to Tony and bent down just a little so he could get a better look at his friend. The older man placed his fingers under Tony's chin and raised it just a little so he could stare into his eyes. "How are you doing my dear boy? Have you been giving our Thomas any problems?"

"He's been real good, sir"

Ducky stood up and turned to look at the other man. "Thomas…I told you that you can call me Ducky, all my friends do. When you call me sir it makes me feel so old and believe me I do not need to be reminded how old I am." Ducky smiled, "My boy when you get my age, you will know what I am talking about."

Thomas laughed and said to himself, _Ducky, if you were my true age you would really feel old…_

Time and space never meant anything to Thomas or his people. His kind never seems to age. If they wanted to go anywhere all they had to do was think it and they would be there. The only thing they could not do was travel into the future or the past.

"Has Anthony made any kind of movement or eye contact?"

"Tony just keeps staring at that one spot just below the TV. I have tried to make eye contact with him but it hasn't work so far. I have also tried to talk with him but I always get the same result."

Ducky shook his head. "All we can do now is keep trying. My friend, I need to go over a few things with Jethro. If you need me I will be down in the basement."

Before Ducky left the room he looked at Tony, "Anthony my boy, I will see you later and please don't give Thomas a hard time."

Thomas watched as the good doctor left the room. He waited until he could hear Ducky going down into the basement. It wasn't long before he could hear the two men talking. He turned his attention back to his unresponsive child. Anthony DiNozzo Jr. will always be one of his favorite children. When Tony had gone missing about four and a half months ago, Thomas had felt as if a door closed on him. He had search for his child but could not find him. It was almost a month ago, when he started sensing him again. He found his Tony in a catatonic state in a hospital. It seemed that Thomas had started sensing him again once the drugs started leaving his systems.

Thomas had always considered all his little friends as his children. They all belong to him once he claimed them. Even as his children grew up and no longer needed him, he could always sense when they were hurt, sick or in trouble. Sometimes he would go back and check on them just to see how they were doing. He tried his best not to interfere too much in their lives but sometimes it was very hard to stand back and watch, especially with his special ones like Tony.

Thomas/Tac remembered back when his young friend had caught the plague. He could sense the worry in Tony the moment he opened the letter and blew on it. He had come to see him but never made himself known. He wanted so badly to help him but with all his powers he could do nothing but watch and wait, as his child slowly died before his eyes. He watched as the dark haired woman named Kate argued with his child while he was so sick. At first, he was angry with her but then he realized she was just doing that to keep his mind off his illness. He also remembered Gibbs had stepped into that blue room and ordered his child not to die. He never knew how powerful a human's love for another could be until that day. He realized his Tony was no longer alone. Tony had all these people that cared about him as much as he cared about them. Tac felt he was no longer needed.

Tac also remembered another time long ago with another one of his favorite children…

_**1792 England…**_

_Near the end of the 18__th__ century Tac was traveling throughout Europe and parts of Asia. He was always looking for children who might need him. While he was in England he befriended a lonely little six-year-old English girl. Her name was Laura and she was the first of his children who was not afraid of him or his appearance. She always saw him as the purple creature he really was but it didn't faze her at all. _

_Laura was a princess who lived in a huge castle. Her parents were always hosting parties for their family and friends. Sometimes the little princess was allowed to attend the parties but most of the times she was not. The only companion she had was with her great aunt. The older woman would visit every now and then to instruct her on the proper way for a princess to behave and also help her with some of her studies. _

_Most of her time, the little girl would occupy her time playing with her dolls and having tea parties with them. Tac had watched her for a while before he decided he would join her party. He was taken back when she started yelling at him. She refused to let him sit down at her tea party._

"_Why can't I sit down and play with you? There is plenty of room for both of us."_

"_Purple creature, you cannot sit down because I have not invited you. I don't want to play with anyone who is as rude as you."_

_Tac looked at her. He tried to defend himself, "I…I am not? You…you are the one…one who is rude because you won't let me play."_

"_No, I am not. This is my tea party and I can invite whom ever I want and I have not invited you. If you want to play, you will have to do what I say or you can't play with me."_

_Tac stood his full height and put his hands on his hips. "Why should I ask? I am much bigger than you. I can sit down at your table if I want and you can't stop me."_

_The little girl stood up and folded her arms. If there was going to be a fight, she was ready for it. After a few seconds, she says, "You can only sit at my tea party if you introduce yourself properly and ask for permission to join MY tea party."_

_It took everything Tac had inside him not burst out laughing. He never had a child this bold try to stop him before. If he wanted something he just always took it. He stared at her for the longest time but she wouldn't give him an inch. He finally smiled and asked, "Can I sit down?"_

_She continued to stare at him._

"_Fine…My name is __Tackdeillseilfjsltleuladkd and __can I join your tea party?_

_She tilted her head as she looked at him and laughed, "Is that really your name?"_

_He looked annoyed, "Yes it is my name and what is wrong with it?"_

"_It's too long and it's too silly even to say. I am going to call you just Sir Tac."_

"_What if I don't want to be called Sir Tac?" _

_She smiled and then curtsy. "It doesn't matter because I am going to call you that anyway. Sir Tac, you may address me as Princess Laura or your Royal Highness. I would be more than happy for you to join my tea party."_

_Tac smiled and bowed, "Your __Royal Highness__, I would be more then happy to join your party."_

_They both sat down. Tac went to grab a cup and she slapped his hand. "You will wait until I pour the tea and serve it to you."_

_She started to laugh again._

"_Princess Laura, might I ask what is so funny now?"_

_She covered her mouth to try and stop laughing. After a few seconds she finally said, "You are the same color as my mother's favorite dress."_

_From that day forward, Tac found himself trying to do everything he could to please his precious little friend. She was the one who had taught him to say please and thank you. It was just a few months before her seventh birthday when she had developed a fever and was coughing a lot. Her parents had waited too long to call the doctor. It turned out she had the whooping cough and there was nothing he could do to help her. At the end Tac had to watch her die. With all the powers he had he could not prevent his Princess Laura from dying. His kind could never mend a broken bone or cure a child of an illness. It was just not in their power. To this very day, he still misses her and her tea parties. _

_**Back To The Present…**_

Thomas heard both Gibbs and Ducky coming up the stairs. He looked back at his friend. There was not much he could do at the moment. He got up and headed toward the kitchen to get something for Tony to eat.

The next day, Gibbs went into work early. Thomas was finally alone with Tony. He helped Tony into the shower. When he was finished washing him, he helped him into some clean clothes. They went downstairs. He led Tony into the kitchen to make Tony some breakfast. When they were finished he led his child into the living room and helped him to sit on the mat. He closed the shades so nobody would see what he was about to do.

Thomas changed completely into his true form as Tac. Because his child was now an adult he decided to appear the same size as a full-grown man. He still had the same skin and eye coloring. His hair was still white but it was now all the way down to his knees. It was braided because it was too long to let it flow freely. He wore long brown pants with a vest.

He sat down in a lotus position in front of Tony. He placed both of his hands on each side of Tony's face. For a minute he tried to stare into those green eyes to see if he could make eye contact but it didn't happen.

As he stared into the green eyes he said, "Smiley, I am so sorry I didn't come sooner. If I had only known at the time I could have protected you from this." When there was no reaction from Tony, Tac got up and paced the room. He was at a loss of what to do.

Tac decided to try what the humans were doing. He got up and turned the TV on. _"Avatar"_ was still in the DVD player. He sat down in front of his friend and hoped for any kind of reaction from him. He really didn't need much. It was almost an hour later when he finally saw something. The green eyes move just slightly every so slightly. A few minutes later, they started following the blue woman in the movie. Tac looked at her and then back at Tony and grinned, "So, you like her don't you? You like Neytiri? How about I make her appear before us. I bet I will really get a reaction from you then?"

Tac raised his hand and a very solid looking Neytiri materialized. She was way too big for the room. She would have damaged Gibbs' living room if Tac had not made her disappear before she started to move. "Ops…I guess we can't do that here. Gibbs would fire me for sure if he found out that I destroyed his living room. How about I go to you?"

Tac sat back down in the lotus position again and placed both hands on each side of Tony's face. He was going to do something that he has never done before with a human. He has only done it with his own kind. He was going to try and go inside his child's mind.

_It didn't take him long to realized he was now inside. He saw what looked like fields of wheat that seemed to go on forever. There were no bright colors only different shades of gray. He could feel a very soft breeze blowing against he face. The breeze made ripples in the fields of wheat that almost made them look like waves in an ocean. In the middle of one of the fields there was a huge grayish looking weeping willow tree. He moved toward it because he sensed that is where he would find his child. He called Tony's name but there was no answer…only silence. It was too quiet. He continued toward the tree until he started to hear a very soft whimper. He could tell it was coming from his child. When he finally reached the tree, he saw as an eight-year-old boy lying under it. He sat down next to the small boy and tried to wake him up. The child didn't move. He picked the small child up and hugged him to his chest. He tried to wake him again but there was nothing. Tac was at a lost at what to do so he just cried for his child…_

_**Abby Meets Thomas…**_

Tac nearly jumped when he heard someone opening the back door and shut it. He quickly changed back into Thomas. He wiped the tears from his eyes. He watched as a female, dressed in black, entered the room. She looked at him for a moment and then smiled, "You must be Thomas. What am I saying? Of course you are Thomas. Who else could you be? My name is Abby. I work for Gibbs. Tony is my friend. Gibbs told me about you. He told me to tell you he won't be home until later. He got hung up on some case. He told me you had to go to one of your classes tonight. So, I came to watch Tony while you're gone."

Thomas stood up and smiled, "It is very nice to meet you Abby. Thank you for coming, I do need to get ready. It is getting late and Tony has not eaten yet. I was planning on making something when Gibbs gets home so we can all eat together."

Abby smiled, "Don't worry about Tony. I will make sure he eats."

When Thomas left, Abby bent down so she could help Tony stand up. She took his hand and led him into the kitchen. She helped him to sit down on one of the chairs so she could start dinner. While she was preparing the food she told him about how her day went and what everyone was doing. Once dinner was ready she fixed Tony and herself a plate of food. She would give Tony a bite and then take a bite of food for herself. Once they were finished she placed the dirty dishes into the sink. She would take care of them later. She led Tony to his bedroom and helped him get ready for bed. In the past, she would have loved to stripe Tony of all his clothes. Now, she would respect his privacy and try not to look as she helped him change into his pajamas. She then helped him into the bed. Abby had brought a book with her so she could read to him. It didn't take long before he fell asleep. While he was sleeping she went in the kitchen and cleared it up.

It was around eight thirty, when Gibbs finally made it home. He was tired and hungry. He was so glad when Abby offered to make him something to eat.

"How was Tony?"

"Gibbs, he's been the perfect gentleman."

For once, Gibbs would have loved for her to say Tony was a pain in the ass but she didn't. He had so wanted his second in command and friend back. He missed the younger man and his antics.

Just about the time Gibbs was almost finished eating Thomas walked in the kitchen and he didn't look too happy.

"How was class?" Abby asked.

Thomas grinned, "Oh…it was really great. I learned the proper way to clean someone up after they used the bathroom. Would one of you like me to demonstrate it on you?"

Gibbs almost choked on his food. Abby had to run over and started patting him on his back. Once Gibbs stopped coughing, they both looked at each other and started laughing.

Abby looked at her watch and realized it was getting late. Abby decided it for time for her leave. Gibbs told her to call as soon as she got home. He wanted to make sure she arrived home safely. Twenty minutes later, she called and Gibbs headed upstairs to check on Tony to see how he was doing. He also wanted to spend some quiet time with him. It didn't take long for Gibbs to fall asleep in the chair next to the bed.

Tac looked into Tony's room to check on him. He wasn't surprise to see Gibbs had falling asleep. He grinned and left the room…


	5. Chapter 5

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Great Falls National Park…**_

Early Monday morning, Gibbs and his team were busy working a crime scene out in the middle of a wooded area not too far from the Potomac River. Some campers had stumbled across the decomposed body of a marine. When they reported it to local authorities, the LEO's called NCIS. It took Gibbs and his team a couple of hours to get there.

There was not too much left of the body because of the insects and animals had gotten to it first. Gibbs and his team could tell the marine had been shot in the back of the head. They also knew that this was not a robbery when Gibbs looked into the dead marine's wallet. It still had over three hundred dollars and two credit cards. Gibbs contacted the dead marine's commander. The commander informed Gibbs that the marine had been reported UA over a month ago.

When they were finished collecting all the evidence, Ducky and Palmer took the body back to NCIS. McGee had hitched a ride with them so he could drop some of the evidence off with Abby. He was also going to start searching into the background of the dead marine and members of his squad. Ziva and Gibbs went to interview the dead marine's squad to see if any of them might know who had last seen him or know where he went the day he disappeared. When the two agents were finally finished with the interviews they headed back to DC.

_**Gibbs' House…**_

Thomas hit the play button for the movie. He stood by the door waiting and watching to see what was going to happen. At first, his child just sat there staring at the big screen. Thomas was debating if he should attempt to go back into Tony's mind or not. Until yesterday, he had never tried this with a human before. To him it was a very uncomfortable experience but he would gladly do it again if it meant helping his child.

As soon as the music started he watched as the green eyes slowly began to follow the movement of the blue people. It was at that moment, Thomas made up his mind that he was going do it no matter how uncomfortable it was to him. He quickly transformed back into his true self. He sat down and placed both of his hands on each side of Tony's face. Within seconds he was in Tony's mind again. He saw the same images as before. He found himself again in the middle of a grayish looking wheat fields. This time there were traces of blue mixed in with grays. He saw the big tree and headed toward it. He found his child lying under it. This time the eight-year-old Tony was on his side with his eyes open and just staring at God knows what. Tac walked over and lay down on his side in front of him so he could see his face. Dark purple eyes studied the green eyes.

"Smiley, what are you thinking? Please give me some sign as to what I need to do to help you?"

When he didn't get any acknowledgement, he continued to stare into the green eyes. Finally he reached over and touched Tony's face and his hair. "Tony…please...I need to know what to do here."

Tac froze when he saw a small hand move toward his face. He was afraid if he made any kind of movement the small hand would stop. So, he just lay there waiting to see what was going to happen next. The small hand started exploring his face. It touched his white hair and ears then stopped. Tac watched as the greens eyes finally locked onto his.

Tac smiled, "Smiley, you see me now don't you?"

_**Back At NCIS…**_

It was turning out to be an extremely long day for Gibbs' team and it looks like there was not going to be any end to it. After Gibbs and Ziva returned to NCIS, they received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be an old high school friend of the dead marine. She told Gibbs that she believed it was her live-in boyfriend who was responsible for the murder of her marine friend. She also told Gibbs that her boyfriend was jealous of any male who talked to her. The marine had disappeared two nights after her boyfriend saw them together talking. She didn't put it together until after she found out her dear friend was dead. Gibbs and Ziva drive sixty-five miles to her house to interview her. While they were there her boyfriend showed up and he started to argue and fight with them. It took both Gibbs and Ziva to subdue the man. They arrested him and took him back to NCIS. They spent the next three hours interrogating the suspect and writing up the reports.

It was late; when Gibbs finally arrived home. He was hungry and tired. He debated with himself if he wanted to eat or not. He was thinking about just going to bed but his hunger pains were getting to him. When he went into the kitchen he found Thomas and Tony sitting at the table. Thomas had a plate of food and a beer waiting for him, "I hope you like hamburgers and fries?"

Gibbs sat down at the table as Thomas placed a plate of food if front of him. "Thanks, I (yawn) sure need this. I am going to have to go into (yawn) work at three in the morning. So, I need to get to bed." Gibbs looked over at Tony as he shoved some fries into him mouth, "How has (yawn) DiNozzo been today?"

Thomas smiled as he placed another plate of food on the table. "He's been about the same. Would you mind feeding him while I go hit the head? I was afraid to leave him until you got here."

Gibbs moved over to the chair next closer to Tony. He picked up the spoon with some food on it and placed it into the younger man's mouth. Thomas walked out into the hallway and turned around and stopped. He wanted to see the expression on Gibbs' face when he started to feed his friend.

It took Gibbs a few seconds to notice that a pair of green eyes was watching him. At first Gibbs wasn't sure he was seeing what he was seeing. Finally a fully awake Gibbs smiled, "Tony?"

Thomas walked back into the room grinning. "He started moving his eyes a few hours ago. I was going to call you but I decided to surprise you instead. You got to admit it's a very good sign."

For the next few minutes Gibbs just sat there with a silly grin on his face because he didn't know what to say or do. He was just too happy at the moment. It was as if Tony was starting to awake from a coma or something…

The next couple of days,Tony was trying to do a little more for himself. If you put a spoon in his hand he would try to feed himself. Sometimes Thomas or Gibbs had to help him because if they didn't he would make a mess but it depended on what he was eating at the time. If you placed a cup in his hand he would drink from it. If he was taking a shower and you place a cloth in his hand he would start trying to wash himself. If he was watching something on the TV and it was funny he would smile. He still had not said a word or made a sound.

One thing both Gibbs and Thomas did notice as Tony was starting to come out of his catatonic state was that he didn't like to be left alone. If he woke up in a room and no one was there with him, he would immediately start wandering throughout the house in a panic mode until he found someone. If he was awake and they left the room he would follow them like he was their shadow. Gibbs decided to put a cot in Tony's bedroom for now. He was going to sleep on it for a while until he was sure Tony was comfortable being by himself. Thomas had offered to sleep in room but Gibbs told him he would do it. Thomas could be there for Tony when he woke up on the days Gibbs had to go to work.

Thursday, Gibbs decided to invite his team over for a cookout at his house this coming Sunday. They had been working so hard and he felt they needed a break. When he asked them they all agreed to come. He was going to hold off telling them about Tony's progress. He wanted to keep that as a surprise.

_**Doctor's appointment…**_

Early Friday morning, Thomas had to drive Tony to the doctor's for his appointment. Dr. Nathan Smith was really impressed with Tony's progress. The doctor asked Thomas if he knew what had triggered the improvement. All Thomas would tell him was that Tony was watching a movie when it happened. The doctor wanted to know if Tony had said anything yet or if he recognized anyone. Thomas just shook his head. Smith believes he won't be much longer before he does. He gave Thomas some brochures to read on the subject.

_**Los Vegas, Nevada…**_

Williams was sitting in a restaurant across the street from his hotel. He had just ordered lunch for himself when he received a call from his informant in Washington DC.

"Mr. Williams…this is Mike. I was just calling because I wanted to let you know that DiNozzo did make his doctor's appointment this morning. I hate to tell you this but it looks like Gibbs' boy might be coming out of it."

This was not the news Williams wanted to hear, "How can that be? Are you sure, Mike?"

"Yah, I am positive. I saw DiNozzo responding to some of the things the Doctor asked him to do. The doctor seemed to be impressed."

"Has DiNozzo spoken at all?"

"No, according to the guy who is taking care of him right now, he hasn't made a sound yet. Do you want me to get rid of him for you, Mr. Williams?"

"I am not finished with him or Gibbs. I don't want you to harm him. Just keep me informed of what is going on."

As soon as Williams hung up he called his friend, "Jack? It's me. It looks like I am going to need your help again..."

_**Gibbs House…**_

Saturday evening, Thomas and Tony were sitting in the living room watching TV. Gibbs was relaxing in the recliner reading a book. A pizza commercial came on; Tony smiled and said out loud, "Pizzzza…"

Both Gibbs and Thomas looked at each other and then back to Tony. Gibbs smiled and moved from the recliner to the floor so he could sit in front of his young friend, "Tony…would you like me to order you some pizza?"

Tony smiled and looked back at the TV but the commercial was gone by now. The smile left his face as he whispered sadly, "Pizzzza gone."

Gibbs continued to smile as he pulled out his cellphone. "Tony don't you worry I am going to order you your favorite pizza right now. Do you remember what it was? It's pepperoni, sausage with extra cheese."

It didn't take long for the pizza to arrive. Gibbs cut it up into smaller pieces so Tony would not make a mess while he was eating it. He put the plate of pizza pieces in front of the younger man. Tony smiled and looked at it. He started picking up the pieces one at a time and putting them in his mouth. All three men were smiling for different reasons. Thomas was smiling because he was watching Gibbs smile at Tony eating the pizza. Gibbs smiled because Tony had finally spoken. Tony was smiling because he just loved pizza with pepperoni, sausage with extra cheese.

_**Sunday, The Day Of The Cookout…**_

It was just before noon, when Gibbs' team started arriving for the cookout. Ducky had decided to come a little earlier because he wanted to check on Tony and see how his young friend was doing. As the M.E. opened his medical bag he began to tell Gibbs about a friend he knew who had a cookout recently that had gone bad. He didn't notice that a pair of green eyes was watching him. Ducky was left speechless when Tony grabbed the stethoscope and began to examine it. The stunned Ducky finally looked over at Gibbs and Thomas, both men were trying their best not to laugh out loud. Ducky gave them both a dirty look and turned back and smiled at Tony.

Abby was the next victim of their little surprise. She had brought her Grammy's favorite Red Beans and Rice dish to the cookout. Just as she was placing the dish on the counter, Gibbs walked into the kitchen with Tony following closely behind him.

"Gibbs, I am telling you my Grammy's…."

Tony saw her with the dish and thought it was his favorite food, "Pizzzza."

She nearly dropped the dish when she heard Tony voice for the first time in a long time. If it weren't for Gibbs, Abby's Grammy's favorite Red Beans and Rice dish would have been history.

The Goth was too stunned to say anything at first and just stared.

It was a smiling Gibbs who spoke next, "Abby, I never thought I would see a day when it took Tony of all people to quiet both you and Ducky."

Abby gave Gibbs a dirty look and then punched him lightly on the shoulder. She turned her attention back to Tony.

"Tony, you spoke. Oh…my…God you spoke. I can't believe you spoke." She started to move toward Tony to give him a big hug but Gibbs stepped in her way and stopped her. She watched as Tony tried to hide behind Gibbs.

"Abby, I know you want to hug him but it would be just a little too much for him right now."

Abby looked at Gibbs and then back to Tony. She could see that she had frightened her friend. "Oh Tony, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I only wanted to give you a big hug."

Gibbs kissed her on the head, "It's okay Abby. He will be okay. He is just started to come out of it. We all just need to give him some time and space."

The next one to arrive was Ziva; she placed her homemade cake on the counter next to Abby's dish. The Israeli could tell something was up the moment she walked into the house. Abby was grinning too much like a cat that had swallowed the canary. The taller woman was just too excited and couldn't wait; she had to blab to Ziva all about the surprised before she burst. She then grabbed Ziva by the hand and took her into the living room. Ziva just grinned; maybe she was going to get her friend back after all. She never realized how much she would miss Tony's antics until he was not around anymore. He was the one who made her laugh everyday no matter how bad things got.

Shortly after that, McGee came walking into the kitchen with ice cream and beer. Abby took the ice cream from him and put it in the freezer. She barely gave Tim the time to put the beer into the refrigerator when she started dragging him in the living room. Everyone was all sitting around talking. Abby dragged Tim over to where Tony was sitting.

"McGee you got to heard this? Tony what is your favorite food?"

Tony looked at Abby and smiled but didn't say a word. He turned his attention back to the TV.

"Come on Tony you said it earlier. Tell McGee what's your favorite…"

Gibbs spoke up, "Abby he will talk when he wants to. Don't push him."

The Goth knew Gibbs was right but she still pouted.

As she and McGee were trying to find a place to sit, they heard, "MaaaGeeeee… Proooobie"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Tony who was still looking at the TV. They all realized that he was starting to remember. Abby grinned it wasn't what she asked but it was better than what she expected. McGee just stood there with a silly grin on his face. He couldn't believe what he just heard. He would never admit it to anyone but he really missed hearing that stupid nickname and hearing that voice.

Palmer and Breena were the last to arrive. They were a little late because the newlyweds had burnt the dish they were bringing so they had to stop by the store and pick up something to take to the cookout. They both were happy when they heard the news about Tony.

Gibbs did all the grilling. When everything was ready they all sat down and ate and enjoyed each other's company.

After everyone ate, Ducky, Thomas, Ziva and Tony sat on the porch watching as Abby and McGee were beating Palmer and Breena at horseshoes. Gibbs was trying to give Breena pointers on how to throw a horseshoe the proper way. Everyone was having such a good time.

_**NCIS…**_

Early Monday morning, Gibbs was sitting at his desk going over some evidence when the mail clerk handed him his mail along with a small package. He looked through the letters and didn't see anything of interest. He then looked at the package. He was wondering what was inside because he wasn't expecting anything. There was no name on it but there was a return address. The package came from Chicago, Illinois. Gibbs wondered who could have sent it. He examined it closely before he decided to open it. He thought about taking it to Abby's lab but decided against it.

When he finally opened it there was a DVD inside. The disc had Anthony DiNozzo's name and a date on it. The date on it was a couple of days after Tony's disappearance. Gibbs put on latex gloves and took the disc out of the package. He opened up the DVD case and took the disc out. He placed it in the DVD drive. The first thing he saw was a white padded room. On the floor, laid a man dressed in white pajamas. It didn't take him long to recognize who it was.

"Tony…"

He watched it for about a minute before he fast-forwarded it just a little. He watched as Tony finally woke up. Gibbs could tell by the younger man's eyes that he must have been drugged. He watched as Tony clumsy crawled around the room and tried to find an opening. When Tony didn't find it, he started yelling but there was no answer. Gibbs forwarded it some more and all he saw was Tony moving around in the room examining ever area of it or talking to his self. Gibbs ejected the DVD. He put the DVD back into its case. He put the case into the package and stood up. "McGee, Ziva with me." They both got up from their desk and followed Gibbs.

_**Abby's Lab…**_

Once they arrived at Abby's lab, Gibbs told them what was in the package and what he had seen on DVD. He ordered Abby to go over the DVD and package to see if she could pull any fingerprints off on them. He called Ducky on his cellphone and ordered him to come to Abby's lab now.

Next he called the director and told him what he had just received in the mail. Gibbs also told the director that he wanted his team to be the ones that investigate Tony's kidnapping.

"Gibbs do you think this is wise? As I said before you and your team is too close to this case and you have been from the beginning. When it first happened you couldn't find anything. What makes you think you could now? The FBI should be the ones doing the investigation in DiNozzo's disappearance."

Gibbs stepped out into the hallway so no one could hear him, "Leon, my team is going to investigate this or I am turning in my resignation right now. I want to catch those bastards who did this to DiNozzo."

For a few seconds, there was silence on the cellphone then finally, "Alright, I will allow it for now but if I see any problems I will pull you and your team off of it immediately and called Fornell. Do I make myself clear Gibbs?"

"Yes, you made yourself perfectly clear sir and thank you Leon." Gibbs closed his cellphone and headed back into Abby's lab. Abby couldn't find anything on the disc. When she was finished inspecting it, she put the disc into the drive and put it on the big screen so everyone could see it. She would examine the package later. Like the others she wanted to see what was on it.

A minute later a very annoyed Ducky came walking into the lab. "Jethro, what was so urgent that I had to stop what I was doing? Palmer and I were just starting the…" The medical examiner stopped in his track as soon as he saw what was on the monitor. It was showing a very drugged Anthony sitting in a padded room.

Gibbs walked over to his friend, "Ducky, I just received this in the mail. It had DiNozzo's name on it and was dated a couple of days after his disappearance. It looks like whoever did this to DiNozzo wants to make sure we know what they did to him. I want you and the others to look this over carefully and see if there is anything we can use to catch these bastards. Maybe this disc can also give us a clue on how to help DiNozzo?" Ducky could see the desperation and hope in those blue eyes. The M.E. moved closer to the monitor. If there was something in this DVD that can help them he was going to do his best to help find it.

They all watched as their friend spent most of his time exploring the room or sitting and talking to himself. After it was over they realized they were no closer to finding out who was responsible for the kidnapping than they were before they view the disc. Whoever had sent this to Gibbs was just bragging to them what they were capable of doing. Ziva didn't say anything. It had bothered her to see what they did to her partner and friend. Abby just stood there as the tears ran down her cheeks. It was McGee who walked over and hugged her. Gibbs just kept staring at the screen. He silently made a vow to himself that whoever these bastards were he was going to kill them himself.

Ducky walked over and stood next to Gibbs, "Why would someone do this to our poor boy and then return him to us? And…why would they later send us a video to show what they have done to him? Is this some kind of revenge against Anthony or NCIS?"

Gibbs rubbed his temple, "Right now, I don't know which, Ducky?"

"Jethro, do you think it is possible that the people who did this might be out to get you instead? After all they did send you the package."

Gibbs looked at his old friend and then back at the monitor, "Yah I was thinking that myself because I have pissed off a lot of people over the years, but I just can't imagine who at the moment would do this."

Gibbs turned to the others. "If this is revenge against me I want you all to be careful when you leave this building. Abby…Ducky don't leave this building until I get back."

"Jethro…"

Gibbs started heading toward the door exit. "Not now Doctor Mallard. Ziva…McGee with me..."


	6. Chapter 6

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate any feedback. It's helps me know if I am going in the right direction for this story. I managed to get this Chapter done early so I decided to go ahead and post it. This chapter is going to explain some of the things that happen while Tony was missing._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Gibbs House…**_

It was almost noon when Gibbs entered his house with Ziva following closely behind him. McGee stayed outside to search the area. The senior agent found Thomas and Tony in the kitchen. Thomas was making lunch for Tony. Tony was just sitting in the chair staring at the table. Thomas turned as he heard him enter the room, "You're home early? You should have called I would have made you something or at least put a pot of coffee on for..." He stopped speaking, when he saw Gibbs carrying a gun. Gibbs ignored Thomas for the moment and ordered Ziva to search the house.

"I am not here to stay. I came home to check on you guys and make sure everything is okay."

"Something happen Gibbs?"

Gibbs put his gun in his holster. "Whoever kidnapped DiNozzo sent me a video in the mail today. It showed what they did to him and I got a very strong feeling that they may not be finished with him yet."

"Starting now, there will be two agents outside the house at all times. Ziva and McGee will take the first watch until I send two other agents to relieve them. You two are not to leave the house without at least one of them with you at all times."

"Do you think that is necessary? I can take care of Tony and myself. Nobody is going to hurt him while I am around." Thomas didn't like the idea of the agents being outside because now he was going to have to be careful especially with Ziva and McGee being here. They are more then liking to come inside on occasions. He wouldn't want them finding out his secret.

Gibbs smiled and left the room for a couple of minutes. He came back and handed Thomas a spare gun he kept in the house. "Yah, I believe you could but I don't want to take any chances when it comes to DiNozzo. He is in no condition to protect himself if they try and take him again. For now, besides the agent outside, I also want you to start carrying this gun around with you everywhere you go just incase something does happen. You are to call me if you see anything suspicious. I don't care what it is or what time of day it is. Call me, do I make myself clear?" Thomas nodded and took the gun and placed it on the counter next to him. He didn't really need a gun to protect what is his but he would take it just so Gibbs would not get suspicious of him.

Thomas turned back to the stove so he could finish making Tony's lunch. The oven baked steak fries were just about done.

Before he left, Gibbs stared at Tony for a moment, "How has he been today?"

"Ask him yourself."

Gibbs looked a little skeptical at first so he moved to the chair that faced the younger man and he asked, "Tony, how are you?"

Tony looked at Gibbs and smiled, "I…hungry."

Just as Tony said that, Thomas placed a sandwich with some fries in front of Tony. The younger man smiled as he looked at the food. Tony went to grab a fry but Thomas stopped him with his hand. "Tony eat some of your sandwich first, the fries are very hot right now. Let them cool down a little first."

Tony looked up at Thomas and smiled at him, "Tac…Hot…Hot Wheels."

Gibbs looked at Thomas; who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He acted like he didn't know what Tony was talking about. He hoped Tony didn't say anything else that might give him away. He was now worried because Tony was starting to remember things. He was relieved when he saw the younger man turn his attention to his sandwich and started eating it.

"Gibbs, how about I make you lunch before you go back to work?"

Just then Ziva came down the stairs, "Gibbs the house is clear."

Gibbs looked at Ziva, "Go wait outside and wait. I will be outside shortly."

He turned back to Thomas, "I don't have time because I have to get back to NCIS. I still have a lot of things to do before I call it a day. Ziva and McGee will stay here until I send two other agents to relieve them. Right now, I am not sure when I will be home."

Gibbs looked at Tony one more time, "Tony, I have to go but I will see you later."

Tony didn't even bother to look up. He was too busy eating to hear Gibbs.

The older man just smiled and left.

_**Two weeks later….**_

A couple more discs showed up in the mail. The return address this time was from Holyoke, MA. Gibbs took them directly to Abby's lab without opening it. The Goth started examining them immediately. While she was doing her thing, Gibbs called the others and ordered them to come to Abby's lab immediately. By the time they all arrived, Abby was finished examining the two discs. She couldn't find anything on them that will help. She inserted the first disc into her computer drive and put it up on the big screen. The first disc was marked number two. It was four days after Tony disappearance. Abby inserted it into the drive.

_At the beginning of the disc it showed Tony sitting in the padded room. His back was against the wall. He eyes were slowly closing… _

_Once he was completely out of it, two hooded men entered the room. They were covered from head to foot in dark clothes. The two men half dragged and half carried the unconscious man out of the room and into another one. They stripped DiNozzo of his clothes and he was placed on an examination table. He was then strapped him down on the table. An IV was inserted into his arm. He eyes were covered with a black cloth. They immediately started working on him. __A feeding tube was inserted through his nose and into his stomach so they could feed him what look like some kind of nutrients. __Next, he __was given what looked like an enema to clear out all the body waste and a __catheter was inserted into his penis to drain any liquid he might have inside him__. Once they were finished they left the room. The room went dark. A time stamp appeared at the end of the video._

With tears in her eyes, Abby inserted the disc marked number three. _According to the date and time on the 3__rd__ disc, a day had passed. When the light came on, two men walked into view. They removed the tubes and IV. Shaved and cleaned the unconscious man up. They then put some clean white pajamas on him. Before they left the room they injected something in his arm. He was placed back in the same room as before. A little later, Tony woke up and started clumsily moving around the room. He was unaware as to what had just happened to him. The rest of this disc just showed DiNozzo exploring the room or talking to himself. Just before it ended, it showed a very frustrated and angry Tony. He started yelling and trying to get someone's attention. Finally he just sat down and cried._

Most of the watchers in the room were just too upset to say anything. Ducky took his glasses off to wipe his eyes. He turned to face Gibbs. The ex marine had never seen his friend so furious, "Jethro, it appears that Dr. Nathan Smith was right about what those bastards did to our Anthony after all. I can only imagine the hell he went through. Anthony is such a social creature of habit. He needs to be around people. Those bastards took that away from him. He was kept isolated from everyone and everything. He must have felt so alone. All those months he was missing he only knew that damn room and nothing else. They fed him and made sure his body needs were taken care of without him even being aware of it. Heaven only knows what kind of drugs they pumped into his body. Our Anthony needs to be around people. It is no wonder he is the way he is today. The isolation must have been madding to that poor boy."

Gibbs looked at his friend but didn't say a word. At the moment, he was just too angry to speak.

_**Gibb's House…**_

Tonight, Thomas had to go to one of his classes so Gibbs had to make sure he got home in time. With the latest development, he wanted to make sure he was there on time. He felt the strong need to protect what was his. When he entered the house, Abby and Ziva were right behind him. The Goth was pretty upset after seeing the video. She begged Gibbs to let her spend a little time with her friend. She had missed Tony so much when he was gone. Gibbs told her he would only allow it only if she kept her distance from Tony and give him time to adjust with her being there. He was still a little nervous around her. Abby was just a little too hyper and loud for him right now. She promised she would behave. Ziva was coming along because she wanted to see Tony too.

Thomas left for his classes. Gibbs was getting dinner ready for everyone. Abby, Ziva and Tony sat in the living room watching a movie together. When the older man was finished he walked in the room and found Abby, Ziva and Tony sitting together on the mat. Abby turned and grinned. "He told us we could sit here with him."

"Ziva can you help me? I need someone to clean off the coffee table so I can put these plates on it." The Israeli jumped up and began removing the books and DVD's off the table. He placed the plates down on the table.

Tony immediately tried to get to the food. Gibbs smiled as he tried to stop the younger man from grabbing the food. " To…Tony, wait a minute I need to get you a towel. I don't want you making a mess all over yourself." When Tony didn't stop Gibbs yelled to Abby to go grab a couple of towels. It took all his strength to keep Tony's hands off the food. He was beginning to wonder how Thomas manages this by himself. He needed to remind himself to ask the other man when he gets home.

Once Abby arrived with the towels. Gibbs was able to let go of Tony's hands. While Tony was eating Gibbs placed the towels on Tony's lap to catch whatever food didn't make it into his mouth.

Both Abby and Ziva just stood there and tried to not laugh. They thought it was so funny watching Gibbs trying to stop Tony from eating. Both women knew there was no way in hell they would get between Tony and food. It didn't matter if Tony was himself or not. Gibbs gave them a dirty look and turned back to look at Tony. It was funny he thought to himself but he wasn't going to let them know.

It was a little later when Tony was finished with his plate. He lifted it up and said, "Thank you, Boss." All three were in shock because it sounded so much liked their old Tony? Gibbs was the first to speak, "Tony…what did you just say."

Tony smiled at him and turned to watch the TV.

_**NCIS Abby's lab…**_

Tac watched as the security guard walked passed the lab. The room he was in was dark except for the little colored lights on some of the machines and computers. He waited until the guard was down the hall before he moved across the room and into the back office. He looked around until he found what he was looking for. The three discs were sitting on Abby's desk. He turned her computer on and placed the first disc into the drive. He watched it without any emotion. When he was finished with it he watched the second and the third disk. To him time had no meaning, so he watched all the discs at normal speed. He didn't want to miss anything. The more he watched the angrier he got.

The last image he saw was his child crying. He pulled the last disc out and put all discs back where he had found them. He turned the computer off. As he left the lab he vowed he was going to make whoever did this to his child was going to pay and pay dearly once he found out who they were…


	7. Chapter 7

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate any feedback._

_I had some extra time this weekend to work on two more chapter and was able to post them. Chapter 8 will not be posted until next weekend. I have to work during the week and it is hard for me to do it any sooner. _

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 7**_

It was around nine when Thomas returned home from his classes. He found everyone in the living room. Tony and Abby were both on the couch. Abby was almost asleep sitting up while Tony was sleeping on his side with his head on Abby's lap. Ziva was sitting on the mat in a lotus position watching the ending to the movie. Gibbs was sitting in the recliner reading a book.

The Israeli stood up and smiled at the man who just entered the room. "Thomas, how were your classes tonight and please don't tell me anything I don't want to hear. Abby has already told me about one of your classes that almost caused our fearless leader to choke to death."

Thomas laughed out loud. "Well, I guess I will just keep it to myself."

Ziva walked over and shook Abby on the shoulder to wake her up, "Hey Abby, come on it's time for us to leave. Don't forget we have work in the morning and our boss won't like it if we are late." Ziva looked over at Gibbs and smiled. Gibbs smiled back.

As Abby stood up she was careful not to wake Tony. She put a pillow under his head. She bent down and kissed him on the cheek and whispered her goodbyes. She still looked half a sleep as she let Ziva lead her out of the room. As she was leaving she said, "See, (yawn) you tomorrow Gibbs. Good...good night…(yawn) Thomas."

"Goodnight, Miss Abby and Miss Ziva. Please be careful going home."

It was getting late so Gibbs and Thomas helped Tony up the stairs and into his bed.

Gibbs left for work early in the morning because he knew he was going to be tied up in meetings most of the day with the director and other team leaders. He had a lot of paperwork to take care of before they started. As he left the house, he checked on the two agents who were outside guarding it. Their replacements would be there in another two hours.

After Gibbs left, Thomas went into Tony's room and decided to lay down on the cot. He wanted to be there when Tony woke up. He felt he needed to be close to his child. He just couldn't get the images out of his mind what he had seen on the computer. It had angered him so much he wanted to kill. He loved the human race but it always amazed him how some of them can be so cruel. He had seen it over the centuries. Whoever had done this to his Tony was going to pay. He needed to find them and make them pay. They would never do this to anyone else.

When Tony finally woke up, Thomas hugged him. He helped Tony take a shower and get dressed. They went down stairs and had breakfast. The morning went by fast and Thomas had to get Tony ready for his doctor's appointment at one.

_**Doctor's Office…**_

The doctor's waiting room was crowded and Tony was getting a little nervous around all the people. Thomas had the nurse talk to the doctor about it. Dr. Smith didn't want his patient to be stressed out so he told the nurse to put him in one of the empty rooms. Thomas and Tony could wait in there until he could see his patient.

It was almost an hour later, when the doctor finally arrived. He apologized for the delay. There had been a major accident on the Beltway this morning and he was late coming into the office. It put him behind on his appointments for at least an hour. Smith started examining Tony. Thomas noticed that they were going to be late getting home. He wanted to let Gibbs know so he slipped out of the room for a minute.

At first, Tony didn't notice that Thomas had left the room. When he finally realized it he started to panic. The doctor tried to calm him but it didn't work.

Thomas had only stepped out of the room to tell the agent who was watching them to call Gibbs and let him know that they were going to be a little late getting home. When he got back into the room he found a very frustrated doctor and a very upset DiNozzo.

"Tony, what is the matter?"

"You gone…No leave me."

"Yes, I was gone and I am sorry. I was just outside. I needed to call Gibbs and let him know we are going to be late getting home. We didn't want him to worry about us."

"Please…no leave me."

Thomas hugged Tony, "I promise I won't leave you. Now how about we let the good doctor here finish up so we can go home?"

_**Los Vegas, Nevada**_

Jack was listening to the loud music and watching the showgirls. He had been sitting at a table in the back waiting for his friend for over an hour. He looked at his watch and wondered how much longer he was going to have to wait. Williams had called him and told him to meet him here. He needed his help again with DiNozzo. Jack didn't like messing with any federal agents but he owed Williams big time.

He was on his third drink when he saw Williams walking into the bar. He signaled the waitress as Williams sat down at the table. Williams ordered his drink and waited until the waitress left.

"I got a call from Mike in DC. He told me that DiNozzo had a doctor's appointment today. It appears DiNozzo is a lot tougher than I give him credit for. It seems he is already starting to come around. Mike overheard him talking to the guy who is taking care of him."

"Do you think he could tell them anything about us?"

Williams laughed out loud, "Nah, there is no way in hell he can tell them anything even if he starts to remember. All he saw was that damn room and nothing else. So, don't sweat it."

Both men stopped talking as the waitress set their drinks down. Williams paid for the drinks and gave her a big tip. He watched as she walked away. He turned back to his friend.

"Why did you want me to meet you here?"

"I really don't care about what really happens to DiNozzo, he is just a means for me to get back at Gibbs. I still want you to continue sending those discs. In about another month or two I plan to kidnap DiNozzo again and I guarantee he won't come out of it this time."

"How do you plan for us to do that? Gibbs has agents watching the house all the time. If they leave the house, there are agents that will be with them."

"You don't worry about that part. I have a friend who is going to take care of it for me. He is an expert in the field of kidnapping. What I need you to do for me is find me another place to setup up the padded room and get all the equipment we are going to need. I do not want it in the same place as before. Maybe this time somewhere outside of the country."

_**NCIS…**_

It was Ziva's turn to go get lunch. McGee was sitting at his desk when he got a call from the mailroom. They were trying to get a hold of Gibbs to let him know they just received another package for him. McGee told them to bring it to him. He would make sure that Gibbs gets when he get out of the meetings. McGee knew Gibbs was still in MTAC with Vance and he could not disturb him at the time. So, he was going to have to wait until Gibbs came down the stairs.

It was around noon when Gibbs finally left MTAC. Vance headed toward his office as Gibbs headed down the stairs. McGee was waiting at the bottom of the steps. He handed Gibbs the package. They went to Abby's lab.

_**Disc Number Four…**_

This disc was dated ten days after Tony's disappearance. Once it was up on the big screen, Gibbs could tell Tony was starting to lose weight. He could also tell by the eyes that the younger man was heavily drugged…

_Tony had no concept of what day it was or how long he had been that damn room. He was sitting with his knees against his chest just rocking. He would do that for a while and then stopped and look around the room as if he heard something. It was too quiet. It was always too damn quiet. He slowly started singing to himself. It was a child's song he learned so many years ago. He had always hated that song because his teacher used to make his class stand up and sing it all the time. He wondered why anyone would write a stupid song about an old man. He found it funny after all these years he still remember every word to the song. When he was finished singing the song, he stopped rocking and looked around the room as if he was looking for someone. He finally focuses on the wall in front of him._

_He whispered so low it was almost hard to make out what he was saying, "Boss, where are you? Please…hurry, I don't know how…how much longer…I…I can hang on."_

It almost broke Gibbs heart to hear Tony say that. The senior agent looked over to the others and could tell it was affecting them just as much as him. He looked back at the screen.

_Tony went back to rocking and singing to himself. He did that until he was tired. He laid down on his side in a fetal position. It wasn't long before he fell asleep._

_The rest of the disc showed pretty much of the same thing. Tony would wake up and find something to do to occupy his time. After he would take a nap. The naps were much longer than the time he was awake._

_**Discs Number 5…**_

This disc was dated fifteen days after he disappeared…

_It began with Tony sitting in the room begging for someone just to talk him. He was begging for someone to tell him why he was there. He wanted to know what they wanted from him but there was always just silence. _

_Tony started laughing to himself. He started thinking about his father. He could just picture what his father would think of him right now, "Dad…if you could only see me. You…you would be so ashamed of me. All those years…years I was alone you would think I could handle this but…I…can't. I need someone to talk to. Dad, I don't want to be a…alone anymore. I need someone to talk to. ARE YOU HEARING ME DAD?" _

_He laughed to himself, "I can just hear you telling me that DiNozzo men don't cry. Well it's kind of hard…not to cry when you feel...feel so alone. Right now, I could even welcome your com…company." _

_It wasn't long before Tony leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Whoever had him must have gassed him again, because the same two hooded men walked into the room. They dragged him into the other room. He was stripped again and placed on the table. He was strapped down. An IV was inserted into his arm. He eyes were covered like before with a black cloth. They immediately started working on him. __A feeding tube was inserted through his nose and into his stomach. __They took care of his body waste. __Once they were finished they left the room. The room went dark. A time stamp appeared at the end of the video._

Gibbs had never felt so helpless as he did now. There was nothing he could do. There were no lead they could follow. There was just nothing to go by. He wondered why they kept sending this disc. Was it some kind of warning or just bragging rights…


	8. Chapter 8

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate any feedback you would like to give._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Surprise Visitor…**_

As soon as the black rental car stopped in the driveway, one of the NCIS agents knocked on the driver side window. The occupant of the car lowered it as Agent White asked, "Excuse me Sir, but I must ask for your ID and the reason you are here."

The visitor joked as he pulled out his wallet and opened up it up. It took him a few seconds to found his ID and hand it to the Federal agent, "What is this Fort Knox or something? I am just here to visit and not rob the place."

Agent White did not look amused. He looked at the ID, "Does Gibbs know you were coming?"

"I told him I would be in DC this week but I wasn't sure what day it would be."

Agent White pulled out his cellphone and called Gibbs. When he got off his cellphone he told the visitor he could go in but to use the front door.

It was still early in the morning when the front doorbell chimed; Thomas went to open the door and almost slammed it in the visitor's face once he realized who it was. He had not seen this man in over thirty years and to him it was just too damn soon. The only reason he ever tolerated him was because of his son. Thomas knew if it weren't for this man's lack of being a good father, he would never have gotten to know that beautiful child so many years ago. Sometime it is strange how life works out.

The visitor smiled, "Hello…my name is Anthony DiNozzo Sr. I am here to see my son Anthony. Gibbs told me he was staying here while he is recuperating from his ordeal?"

Even though Gibbs had warned him earlier this week that Senior might be stopping by for a visit, it took everything Thomas had inside of him to be civil with this man. He opened the door wider to let him in. "My name is Thomas Carter. I have been taking care of your son."

"How has he been? I tried to get here sooner but this is the first opportunity I got to come to Washington DC…and I wanted to stop by and see my son and see how he is doing."

"Does Gibbs know you are here?"

Senior looked a little annoyed with the question. "Yes, Agent White called Gibbs to let him I know I was here."

Thomas was curious, "What have you been told about your son?"

"I was told he was missing for several months and when they found him he had some kind psychological damage. Gibbs and Abby have been keeping me updated on his progress."

Thomas was trying his best to not sound too angry, "Mr. DiNozzo, your son has been here for almost a couple of months now and you are just coming to see him?"

Senior looked very angry with the man standing before him. The older man thought to himself. _How dare he asked such a question? Who does he think he is? _

Instead he said, "Mister Carter…I do not appreciate your tone with me. I love my son. I can't help it if I had business to take care of before I came to see him. Time waits for no one. Besides I knew my son was in very good hands with Gibbs. Gibbs is like a second father to him. Now, if you would please, take me to see my son. I would appreciate it."

Thomas escorted Senior into the living room. Tony was sitting quietly on the mat watching a movie. He was so interested in it he didn't even notice when Thomas had left the room to answer the door. Senior sat down in the chair next to where his son was sitting. At first Senior wasn't sure what to say to him so he just said his son name, "Junior?"

Tony turned and just stared at his father at first. He didn't say a word.

Senior was taken back just a little by the change in him. He could tell his son had lost a lot of weight since the last time he had seen him. There was also something different in the way Tony was looking at him, "Junior, what's the matter, you don't recognize you own father?"

Thomas could tell Tony seemed nervous with his father so close to him. Tony looked at Thomas for support and then back to his father, "You go…now."

Senior laughed just a little, "Junior…why would you want me to go? I just got here."

Tony looked at again at Thomas. "I…am…tired. I want…want to go to bed."

Thomas moved closer to help him stand up, "Alright, why don't you go upstairs and lay down. I will be up there in a minute."

"No, you come with me…now."

Senior stood up and moved a little closer to his son. "Junior?"

Tony stepped back and shook his head, "No Junior…Tony. My…name…is…Tony. You go…now…please. No…here…"

When Senior did not move, Thomas stepped in between the son and father, "I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave Mr. DiNozzo. You are upsetting your son and I can' have that happen. Gibbs will kill me. Maybe later your son will want to see you. If he does, I am sure Gibbs will call you and let you know." Thomas thought to himself that there was noway in hell he would call him.

Senior looked at his son with sadness and then back to Thomas, "I will be here in DC for the next day or two. Please call me if…if my son changes his mind and wants to see me." Senior handed Thomas his business card and left.

Thomas watched as the rejected father headed toward the front door. He almost felt a just a little sorry for the man but then he remembered the lonely little boy from so many years ago and his sorrow went completely away.

After Thomas finally got Tony settled in bed for a nap, he called Gibbs. He wanted to let him know how bad Senior's visit had gone and Tony's reaction to seeing his father. Gibbs was angry with himself because he knew something like this might happen. He hoped there wasn't going to be any setbacks because of it. He just wished he had been there for Tony if he needed him but he was in the middle of an investigation and he couldn't leave.

_**Fifty miles south of Tijuana, Mexico…**_

"Well, what do you think?" as the two men walked through the well-guarded compound.

"Jack, I like it but what about these men around here? Can we trust them?"

Jack smiled, "I have worked with them before on several different occasions. They all have military backgrounds. Most of them got kicked out of the service for one reason or another but they can be very loyal if you pay them enough money. They will follow you into Hell and back for the right price."

"Good…What about the material we are going to need to get the rooms ready?"

"It should all be here in two weeks. It going to cost you a lot but we should have everything ready by the end of the month."

Williams grinned, "Money is no object. Over the years I have acquired a lot of it. You just do what I ask and don't worry about what it is going to cost. I will take care of that myself."

_**Doctor's Office…**_

It was closer to Tony's appointment with the doctor; Thomas had to wake Tony up and get him ready. When he woke up the sleeping man he was still a little a little upset. He didn't want to leave his bed but Thomas had to convince him that he needed to go.

When they arrived at the doctor's office it wasn't too crowded. The doctor was able to see Tony within minutes after their arrival. Dr. Smith was very pleased with Tony's continued progress. Before they left the doctor wanted to get some blood. He had his assistance take care of it while he talked with Thomas. Thomas had been very concerned about Senior's visit and what it had done to Tony. The doctor seemed to be very interested in the fact that Tony recognized his father even though it was not a good experience for him. It was still a good sign that he was improving.

Dr. Smith's assistant Mike took the three vials of blood first so they would not show any traces of a mystery drug he was about to inject in the unsuspecting Tony. He looked back one more time at the two men talking to make sure they were not looking his way. He turned and stuck a needle into Tony's arm and injected the drug. Tony didn't really notice because he was busy watching Thomas to make sure he didn't leave without him.

By the time they arrived back home, Tony just wanted to lie down and take a nap. It was still too early for bed, so Thomas had him lie down on the couch. He went and got a pillow and blanket. As soon as Tony's head hit the pillow he was out. Tony was still sleeping when Gibbs got home. The older man was concerned and went to check on Tony. The younger man seemed to be fine. They figured Senior's visit must have upset him so much it wore him out. If he weren't any better by Monday he would have Thomas call the doctor. Gibbs also planned to talk with Ducky and see what he thinks.

_**The Park…**_

Saturday Morning, Tony seemed to be doing just a little better but he just wasn't talking much. Both Thomas and Gibbs was worried he might be regressing back to the way he was a few weeks ago. Gibbs made up his mind that he was going to give Ducky a call a little later and see what he thinks.

After breakfast, Gibbs and Thomas decided to take a walk so Tony could get some fresh air and exercise. Maybe it will help him to come out of whatever slump he was in. Gibbs had the agents stay behind. He figured if anything happened Thomas and he could handle it. Beside if he needed them the agents were just a short distance away. The walked to the park was just about a half a mile from Gibbs' house. The park was empty at the time. Tony went over and sat down on one of the swings. Both Gibbs and Thomas were sitting on a bench a little ways from it so they could talk in private about Tony's progress and Senior's visit. They could still see Tony and Tony could see them.

It was about fifteen minutes later, a couple of teenager age boys on bikes rode by and saw an adult man just sitting on one of the swings. One of the boys recognized him. He didn't really know him but he had seen him before. He was staying with the man across the street from his grandmother's house. "Hey there's the guy I was telling you about. My grandmother said she found him on Gibbs' front lawn one day. He was acting strange. I heard he was once a federal agent. Now he is just a retard or something like that."

The other kid started laughing, "Hey, you want to have some fun?"

The boy acted a little nervous, "I don't think we should, my grandmother..."

"Come on, it will be fun. Just follow me."

So, the two boys started circling and calling Tony names. Tony just sat there and looked at them because he didn't understand why they were saying those things to him.

Neither of the boys noticed that they were being watched. Both Gibbs and Thomas got up and ran toward them. Gibbs managed to get in front of one of the boys and stopped his bike, "Damian, you leave him alone or I am going to have a nice talk with your grandmother. Do I make myself clear?"

The boy just nodded. He has known Gibbs for most of his life and he knew his grandmother and Gibbs were good friends.

"Yes, Sir."

Gibbs smiled, "Good, now take your friend and get out of here."

As the two boys were leaving Damian's friend call Tony a name and both boys laughed as they rode off.

Thomas started to go after them but Gibbs grabbed him by the arm, "Just leave it. They are not worth it. I know Damian's grandmother and I will talk to her about her grandson later." Gibbs walked back toward Tony to see if he was okay.

Thomas didn't want to leave it. He was still too angry. He stared at the two boys for a few seconds. As he watched them, his eye color changed into dark purple with red specks. He knew they were young but he wanted them to suffer just a little for what they did. As the two laughing boys left the park, a flock of birds flew over and pooped all over both of the boys. They started yelling and trying to protect themselves from getting hit even more.

He grinned slightly as he turned and headed toward Gibbs and Tony. Thomas said to himself, _"You are so wrong Gibbs, revenge is sometimes so worth it. It makes me feel so good inside."_

When they arrived home, Gibbs could tell, the mail had already been delivered. He went to check the mailbox to see if he had anything. There was a package inside it. He knew immediately what was it. He ordered Thomas to get Tony in the house now. He warned the agents outside to be on alert. He called his team and then Abby and Ducky and told them to get over to his house as soon as they could. He told them he had just received another package and this time it was sent to his house. Something had changed and they needed to try and figure out what it was.

When the team arrived, Gibbs had Thomas take Tony upstairs so he could take a nap. He didn't want the younger man around to see what was on the disc. The senior agent was afraid it could set back all of Tony's progress.

McGee put the disc in the drive; they sat and watched as the padded room came up on the monitor. The date was exactly a month after DiNozzo disappeared. On it, Tony looked like hell. He looked as if he lost over thirty pounds. There were also dark circles that were starting to form around his eyes.

_**Disc Number Six…**_

_Tony's mind was starting to drift in and out of reality and he was also having trouble concentrating on things. He knew it was happening but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had given it one hell of a fight but he couldn't hold on anymore. He knew he was giving up but he didn't care._

Gibbs' team watched as Tony started laughing to himself. They were wondering what he was thinking at that moment and what could be so funny.

_Tony started laughing when he thought about his Senior. His father was so angry with him that day he told his father that he wanted to become a cop and why. Senior just didn't want to hear about it. His father told him how stupid he was for giving up a great moneymaking career for a job that took no brains and very little pay. Tony had tried to explain why but his father cut him off and didn't want to discuss it. _

They listened to Tony talk to an empty room. It almost sounded like he was talking with his father.

_Tony's mind was drifting. Things were starting to get mixed up in his head. He started thinking he was in the lounge in the __Adam House Hotel and he was sitting across from father. _

"_You've always been disappointed in me because I became a cop?"_

"_No."_

"_It felt that way to me"_

"_I was always was supportive. I never said anything._

"_Exactly."_

"_What did you want me to say?"_

"_Hey Junior, I'm glad you found a career that you are passionate about. I am proud of you and what you are doing."_

"_How do you know I don't feel that way?"_

"_How would I? We never talked?_

_Tony was getting things mixed up in his head. He remembered he and his father were talking about something but he couldn't remember exactly what it was. He did remember his father telling him, that he didn't like to advertise his failures. So, in Tony's mind he was a failure to Senior._

From Tony's one-sided conversation, Gibbs and the other now knew Tony was thinking his father was in the room with him and he was talking to him. After a while, they saw their broken friend starting to cry.

_He didn't care what his father thought about him because he was used to it. There was only one person he never waited to fail and that was Gibbs. He respected the man too much. He started to cry when he realized that he was going to fail Gibbs. He tried his best but he couldn't hold on any longer. Tears were just flowing down his cheeks. It was barely a whisper but he managed to get it out, "Sorry…Boss I…I can't do it any…more. I…I just can't…I am so sorry…Boss. I know…I've failed you. I am so sorry…" When he couldn't say anything else, he began trying to wipe the tears from his face. When that didn't work, he started rocking back and forth with the tears falling freely. Shortly after that he started to hum to himself and the tears finally stopped. It was not long before he went quiet. The rocking stopped and he just stared at the wall in front of him. The rest of the disk just showed him staring at the one place on the wall._

Everyone in the room was quiet. They just didn't know what to say. Abby was hugging McGee and softly crying on his shoulder. Ziva had to get up and leave. She headed toward Gibbs' bathroom. Gibbs didn't care who heard him when he whispered. "Tony there is nothing you should be sorry for. You did the best you could under the circumstances."

Thomas was sitting on the stairs watching and listening to the whole thing. He looked up the stairs and at the room where Tony was sleeping. He was worried because for over three months he lost contact with Tony and he knew it could happen again. He was going to do everything he could to prevent it but he knew the possibility was always there.

_**South of Tijuana, Mexico…**_

"Mr. Williams, I was just calling to let you know everything went as planned. DiNozzo has the drug in his system now."

"Good, did you have any trouble?"

"No, it was a piece of cake."

"When is DiNozzo's next doctor's appointment?"

"In about two weeks, why?"

"Perfect, he won't be due for another shot until around that time."

"I don't think I will be able to give him a shot on his next visit. I don't think the doctor will want to draw any blood so soon."

"You won't need to worry I will have DiNozzo by then. I've got to go. I will talk to you later."

Williams ended the phone call.

He grinned at the man across the table from him. "I just wanted to make sure DiNozzo wasn't going to have any more blood drawn because if he was I was going to have to take him sooner. I don't want them to find out about my special blend."

"Your special blend?"

"It's a special blend of drugs I mix that gets the results I want from my subjects. It is what I gave DiNozzo that last time we had him. It made him more easy to control."

"If it is so special about it, why did it take a month?"

Williams laughed, "Jack, I was not in a hurry back then. I wanted to drag it out as long as I could. That is why I took the videos of him at different times. I wanted to send it to Gibbs to let him know what we did to his protégé. I wanted Gibbs to see the moment his second in command gave up. In another two weeks, I will have DiNozzo and I will finish what I started. After that I will have Gibbs brought here and make him watch and then I will personally shoot him in the head myself."


	9. Chapter 9

_Thank you as always for your reviews and alerts. I do appreciate any feedback you would like to give. It does help me to decide what direction I want to take the story._

_I got done with this chapter earlier then I thought. Once I started writing it I couldn't stop. So, I decided to go ahead and post it instead of waiting. WARNING - There will be a few unwanted surprises in this chapter but it will all work out at the end of the story. Chapter 10 will probably not be posted until next weekend._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 9**_

_**Gibbs house…**_

It had been several days since they received the last disc. Gibbs had several things going on in his mind at one time. He was worried about Tony because he seemed to be reverting back to the way he was when Gibbs first found him on his lawn. His gut was also telling him something was about to happen and it was going to happen soon. He was having trouble sleeping at nights so he spent his time working in his basement. During the day, Abby, Ziva and McGee were finding it hard to work with the senior agent without him getting angry. Most of the time when he blow up it was because they were not fast enough with their answers.

Ducky decided it was time to call his old friend down to autopsy and have a long talk with him. He asked Palmer to make himself scarce for a little while. It didn't take much to convince the younger man because he didn't want to be around when Gibbs got here. He had already suffered the wrath of Gibbs and he didn't want to have that happen again. The M.E. wanted to help his friend get back on track. He had heard the concerns from Abby, Ziva and McGee. He knew everyone was worried about both Tony and Gibbs. They knew whoever was doing this was out to get Gibbs by destroying Tony.

When Gibbs walked into autopsy he looked like he was already in a very bad mood. "What do you got Duck?"

"Jethro, right now I have nothing."

"Then why in the hell did you call me down here?"

Ducky took a deep breath. He knew this was not going to be easy and he was going to have to try and keep himself calm. "Jethro, I called you down here because we are all worried about you?"

Gibbs looked at his friend and just shook his head. "I am not the one you need to worry about."

Ducky knew the answer already but he was going to ask anyway because he wanted to get his friend to talk. "Just who should we be worrying about if not you?"

"Tony…He is the one in danger."

Ducky got up and walked over and stood in front of his friend, "Jethro…we are all worried about Anthony but we are also worried about you."

Gibbs shook his head, "Why would you be worried about me? Tony is the one who is in danger."

"It's obvious to everyone who cares about you that whoever did this to Anthony is out to get you also. You are both in danger."

Gibbs closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his temple. He looked at his friend, "Duck…I know but there is something else that is going on…I had planned to talk with you about it. I haven't said anything to anybody because I was worried about Tony. It like he is reverting back to that day I found him. He has almost stopped talking all together. Both Thomas and I have been trying to get him to talk but he just won't do it. Sometimes he just stares at what is in front of him."

"Have you talked to his doctor?"

"Yes, he thinks it more psychological than physical. The doctor just took blood from Tony a few days ago and everything looks normal. He thinks it just Tony reaction from Senior's visit. I am at a lost of what to do. I am having trouble sleeping…"

_**Gibb's house…**_

Thomas stood at the entrance to the living room and stared at Tony. He was just sitting there watching the TV and hadn't said anything within the last hour. Thomas knew something was not right with him. Normally he could sense his child but it was almost like it was a little muffled to him.

Thomas sat down next to Tony, "What are you watching?"

Tony turned and looked at him for a few seconds and then turned back to watch whatever was on the TV.

Thomas reached over and touched Tony's chin and turned his face toward him. Thomas let Tony watch as he transformed into Tac. His child didn't even notice…

_**NCIS One Week After The Disc Arrived…**_

Gibbs was sitting in the bullpen going over a few reports when Abby came running in all excited.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! You are not going to believe it. You are really truly not going to believe it…I swear you are not going to believe it."

Everyone in the bullpen looked up and that included the neighboring cubes. Gibbs stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders and made her sit down in his chair to try and calm her down.

"Abby, what do you got?"

"I swear Gibbs you are not going to believe this. Really truly not going to believe it…I swear you are not going to believe it."

"Abby will you just tell me what it is?"

"Gibbs, the other day, I was looking over the package for the zillionth time. I found something and you are not going to believe…well maybe you will believe once I…"

"ABBY! Will…you…please…get…to…the…point?"

"Sorry Gibbs, I was just so excited. The package had a small bug in it. It was a very…teeny tiny bug. I think it was a baby bug. It was right between the flap and gum area. I didn't see it at first because it was so small and also squished just a little. I took it to an entomologist friend of mine. He said it was an Asian citrus psyllid and he was able to give me a time frame when he thought it died. He said that this bug was from the San Diego area."

"The return address on the package said it was from Reno, Nevada."

"Yes, but the disc was placed in the package in San Diego, CA. The person who did it unknowingly trapped the tiny bug inside it when he sealed it. I check with the post office in San Diego, CA and you are not going to believe this. They remember him because he mailed a lot packages to Mexico that week. He also bought some packaging he told them he was going to use later. Within that same week he mailed that package to NCIS from Reno.

McGee spoke up, "How do you know it is the right man? There was probably a lot of people who purchase that same packaging."

Abby smiled, "Oh ye of little Mcfaith." Abby looked at McGee and winked, "That one is for my boy Tony."

She then turned back to Gibbs. "This man made one mistake. He paid for it all with a credit card. How dumb can you be? Well not you, Gibbs…I am talking about the guy with the credit card. I was able to check his card usage. He was in Chicago, Holyoke, Seattle and Reno at the same time all the packages were mailed to NCIS."

"ABBY, what's his name?"

"Oh, right. His name is John Paul Mathis. He goes by Jack. He had been in and out of trouble with the law for smuggling things into the country. He got in some serous trouble about a year ago or so. He went to trial but someone with a lot of money must of helped him out because he got to go Scott free on a technicality. He's been doing this for years."

Gibbs helped Abby out of his chair. "Good work, Abby. You can put a months worth of Caf-Pow on my bill. Now go get back to work."

"McGee and Ziva I want you both to find out where this John Paul Mathis is and bring him in and I want him in my interrogation room before the week is out."

_**Two Days Later…**_

Jack was sitting nervously in the interrogation room. He had been sitting there for almost an hour sweating. He was wondering how they found him out. He had been careful not to leave any name or fingerprints.

Finally the door opened and Gibbs walked into the room with a beautiful dark haired woman. He put the folder on the table and sat down in the chair. "Mister Mathis do you know why you are here?"

"Your agents told me that I was here because you guys made some connection with me and a missing agent of yours. I told them I don't know anything about it or the missing agent. I had nothing to do with it."

Gibbs just sat there for a while and stared at him. He wanted to rattle the guy just a little. After awhile the senior agent finally spoke, "We have a very good forensic specialist and she was able to trace you to every package that you mailed to me. So, do you want to start explaining it or do we sit here and talk for a while. I will leave that up to you but I must warn you my patients have been running a little to thin these days."

"I still don't know what you are talking about Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked over at Ziva and nodded his head. She turned and signaled someone in the other room to stop the camera and mike. The senior agent watched as the light went out on the camera. Gibbs then sat up straight and smiled, "Now Mister Mathis, we are off camera so there will not be any witnesses. I am going to let you choose, which way you want to do this. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I will leave that up to you. We have the evidence and know you were involved with the disappearance of one of my agents. We can put you in prison for the rest of your life and then some."

Gibbs stood up and slowly walked around the table and whispered into the other man's ear, "You also must remember we are federal agents and we can make you disappear at any time we want to."

Gibbs walked back to the other side of the table and sat down. "Are you going to cooperate or not?"

Jack knew he was screwed and there was no way out of it. "Yes…yes I will tell you everything you need to know."

Gibbs signaled Ziva to tell them to turn back on the mike and the camera.

"The man involved name is Frank Williams. He was in the marine corps the same time you served."

"I don't know anyone by that name."

"You wouldn't because he had changed his name years ago."

"What is his real name?"

"Drake Sullivan...Sergeant Drake Sullivan."

"Sullivan is dead. He died in a car accident years ago."

"No, he wasn't killed, but he did want everyone to think it happened. It freed him up to start a new life. He made a fortune on what he was good at. He worked with other countries that paid him some very big bucks to help train their people in brainwashing and interrogation techniques. He is really good at it."

"Why did he do it to DiNozzo?"

"He wanted to get back at you for destroying his career in the military."

"I didn't do it. He did it to himself. If it was revenge, why didn't he just come after me?"

"He hates you for getting him thrown out of the service but he also hates you for killing his son."

"Who is his son?"

"James Sullivan…"

Gibbs remembered James Sullivan. He was a young marine who had shot and killed a buddy over some money in a card game on a ship. When NCIS tried to arrest him there was a standoff. Gibbs ended up having to shoot him before he hurt anyone. There was nothing else he could have done to stop it.

"Why has he been sending me those discs?"

"He wanted you to know what he did to your agent?"

"Why DiNozzo?"

"He has had people watching you for years. He believes DiNozzo is the closet thing you have to a son. It sort of an eye for an eye if you know what I mean."

"So, what are his plans now?"

"He plans to take DiNozzo from you again and finish what he started."

"And what is that?"

"He wants to finish destroying DiNozzo and have you watch it. After that he plans to kill you."

Gibbs smiled, "How does he plan to do that?"

"He has got an inside person helping him?"

"Inside person? Inside in what?"

"Some guy who is in the medical field. He has been helping with DiNozzo's recovery?"

A chill went up Gibbs' back. "Who is this guy?"

"I can't remember his name. He calls Williams ever so often and gives him an update on DiNozzo's progress."

Gibbs stood up and grabbed the folder and ordered Ziva to step out in the hall with him. As soon as he got out there he ordered her to have McGee check into the background of everyone who is involved with DiNozzo's care. He told her he would finish up the interrogation and be up there in a while.

An hour later, Gibbs entered the bullpen, "McGee what do you have?"

"Boss…you are not going to like this one bit. I have checked the background on both Dr. Nathan Smith and his assistant they seem to be in the clear for now."

"So, what am I not going to like?"

"I also decided to look into checking the background of someone else. There are some anomalies in his background that I can't explain."

Gibbs was started to get impatient, "McGee, who is it and what are these anomalies?"

McGee looked nervously at Ziva and then back to Gibbs. "Boss, it's Thomas. The first time I did a background check everything looked fine. When I did it this time, I can't find anything on him. It's like he never existed. I…I can't understand how that can happen."

Gibbs looked at both McGee and Ziva. "I want you both to bring that bastard in. Take Ducky with you. Have him to stay with Tony until I get home. Tell him to check Tony out and make sure he is okay."

McGee and Ziva left to get Ducky. Gibbs headed up to the director's office. He needed to let him know what was going on.

Within an hour Thomas was sitting in the interrogation room and wondering why he was there…

_**Gibbs House…**_

Ducky had checked Tony over thoroughly and couldn't find anything wrong with him. It surprised him when McGee and Ziva told the M.E. about Thomas lying about his past. Like Gibbs, he had really like and trusted the young man. He was now worried that Thomas might have hurt Tony somehow. Maybe he is the reason Anthony is acting this way he is. The old M.E. really missed the fun loving Tony. He hoped for everyone's sake that they would see him again and soon.

Ducky looked out the window and could see it was getting late so he decided to help the younger man get ready for bed.

As he was starting to help Tony up the stairs he heard a noise. He turned around just as a man grabbed him and put a chloroform cloth over his mouth and nose. Within seconds, the older man's world went black.

Two men walked over and grabbed Tony by the arms. Tony didn't struggle. A third man shoved a needle into Tony's arm. Within seconds he was out like a light. One of the men picked him up in a fireman's carry and took him out of the back door. He had to step over one of the dead agents. He placed the unconscious man in a black van. No one notices as the van left Gibbs house and headed down the street…

_**NCIS The Interrogation Room…**_

Thomas looked at Gibbs. "Gibbs, why am I here? One of us should be with Tony at all times."

"Shut up and listen to me whoever you are. When I first hired you, I had McGee run a background check on you. Everything seemed to turn up fine."

Thomas smiled, "Then what is the problem?"

"We decided to do another background check on you. Guess what? We can't find anything on you now. Can you explain how that can happen?"

"I can't help it if someone lost my records."

"Who are you really? Why are you here?"

Just as Thomas was getting ready to say something he stopped. He could feel something just happen to his child. Something was very wrong. If was almost like he couldn't sense him anymore. He stood up and looked down at Gibbs. "I have to go. I have to go now."

"Sit down, you are not going anywhere until you answer my questions."

Thomas looked at him, "I don't care about your questions. I care only for my child and you are not going to stop me from going to him. I have to leave and I have to do it now."

Gibbs stepped in front of Thomas to try and stop him from getting to the door. "Please step back Gibbs. I like you a lot and do not wish to harm you. I only want to leave. I must protect my child at all cost."

Gibbs pulled out his gun and aimed it at Thomas, "I am not going to let you go anywhere. Do you really think you can leave this room?"

Just as Gibbs said that, the door flew open and McGee and Ziva came charging into the room with their guns drawn and pointed directly at Thomas. A very strong invisible force pushed both McGee and Ziva back into the hallway. They were held against the wall until the door slammed in front of them.

Now Gibbs and Thomas were alone in the room again. Thomas eyes started changing to a dark purple. Gibbs took a step back. He watched in amazement as Thomas finished transforming into his true self. The purple creature with the long white hair moved toward the senior agent. He stood at least two inches taller than Gibbs. "My friend…I do not wish to hurt you but I will if you do not let me go to my child. He is all I care about."

"I am not your friend and what is this about your child? Is someone holding your child as hostage and forcing you to do this?"

"My child needs me. I have to go. Something has happen to him. I can barely sense him anymore. It is like when he was gone all those months ago. I must go now. Please move out of the way."

"I don't know who or what the hell you are but I am not letting you leave here until you tell me what the hell is going on."

As seconds passed, Gibbs stood his ground and continued to point his gun at creature. He was ready to shoot if it took one more step. Gibbs could hear McGee and Ziva yelling from behind the door. They were calling for reinforcements. If he could only keep that thing here until help arrives.

Tac didn't care anymore. He moved toward the door as the sound of a gun went off…


	10. Chapter 10

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate any feedback you would like to give._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_Also remember Gibbs knew Williams as Sullivan so he will call him that. _

_I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 10**_

_**NCIS The Interrogation Room…**_

Gibbs could hear a lot of commotion going on behind the door leading into the hallway. McGee was yelling through it to let his boss know that help was on its way. He could also hear Ziva's muffled voice giving instructions to somebody. The senior agent felt like he was trapped inside some kind of living nightmare that he could not wake up from.

A few seconds ago, Gibbs had fired his gun just a few inches above the purple creature's head to stop it from trying to escape. He didn't dare take his eyes off it. He watched as it stopped moving and slowly turned to face him.

Gibbs spoke as loud as he could so the other could hear him out in the hallway, "That was just a warning shot. The next step you take, I will put a bullet right into your left shoulder."

Tac smiled at him, "Gibbs…do you really think you can hurt me with that gun? The most it will do is make me feel a slight sting but that is all. It won't hurt me."

Gibbs continued to aim the gun at the creature. "Thomas or whatever the hell you are…just go ahead and try to take another step. I am warning you I will shoot you."

It was at that very moment the senior agent could see a change in the creature's facial expression. Its smile was now gone and replace with a frown. Tac looked at the human. "Gibbs…we are too late. They have taken him."

Gibbs looked confused, "Who has taken whom?"

"I don't know. I just know Tony is gone now."

Gibbs was trying his best to follow what the creature was saying. "What do you mean Tony is gone?"

"He is gone Gibbs. He is not at your house anymore."

Gibbs kept his gun aimed at the creature as he reached with his right hand for his cellphone. He tried to call Ducky but he didn't get an answer. He then tried to call the two agents who were watching his house and he got the same results.

The senior agent looked at the creature. "I don't care what the hell you are. If I find out you are involved in this somehow I will kill you myself even if I have to do it with my bare hands. Right now, you are going to open that door and let my agents in. You will stay here with them until I get back. I need to find out what the hell is happening at my house."

Tac shook his head, "I would never…never harm my child and I am not going to stay here while my Tony is missing. I am going with you. We will go to your house together so you can see he is not there anymore."

Tac raised his hand and caused Gibbs' gun to go flying across the room and hit the wall. "Gibbs, I must prove to you that I am only here to help Tony and not to harm him in anyway."

Tac moved closer to the man as Gibbs took a couple of steps back. Purple eyes stared into the blue ones. "Please do not fear me. I do not wish to harm you in any way. I know you want to protect Tony just as much as I do."

Tac looked toward the door. Earlier, he had put some kind of force field around the room no one could enter or see inside. He could sense someone trying to open it and he knew he couldn't hold the field too much longer. He looked at Gibbs, "We have to go now. We can't leave the normal way because your people will try to stop me. I am sorry for the way we are going to have to travel because it caused all kinds of problems in your building but we must leave…now."

Within seconds both the creature and the agent were standing in the middle of Gibbs' living room. Gibbs saw Ducky lying on the floor and ran over to check on his friend. He was relieved when he felt a pulse.

Tac spoke, "They just used chloroform on him. He should be okay in a little while. It won't be long before he wakes up."

Gibbs looked suspicious. "How would you know what they gave him?"

Tac smiled, "My kind had a keen sense of smell."

Gibbs looked at the top of the stairs and started to go up them. Maybe Tony was up there.

"There is no use for you going up there as I told you my Tony is not here anymore. We must find him before it is too late."

"What about my agents outside?"

"I am sorry Gibbs but they are dead. I do not sense their life-force like I do with Ducky."

Gibbs looked at the creature and then went outside to confirm what Tac had just told him. He found the two dead agents not too far from the driveway. They both had their throats slit. He pulled out his cellphone and called McGee.

"Boss…are you okay? Where are you? The power is out in…"

"McGee…for now just shut up and listen. Thomas is with me at my house. Tony is missing…they have taken him again. I found Ducky unconscious but he will be okay once he wakes up. Both White and Dean are dead. Have another team come out here to do the investigation. Also, have Palmer bring the bus out here to pick up the bodies. McGee…"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Let Director Vance know about White and Dean. He is going to have to call their wives. Tell him I will see him as soon as I can. I am going to have to wait here until someone comes to recover the bodies.

"On it Boss."

Gibbs closed his cellphone. There was not much he could do outside so he headed back in to check on Ducky. The older man was still unconscious. Gibbs decided to sit down in the chair next to his friend and wait for him to wake up.

Gibbs just stared at the creature for a few seconds. "Earlier, you called DiNozzo your child. Why?"

"Because he is my child, I claimed him as mine when he was just eight years old."

"Anthony DiNozzo Sr. is his father."

The creature's face darkened with anger as he looked at the human. He couldn't believe what he had just heard Gibbs say. "FATHER…how can you call that IDIOT of a man his father? I was there when Tony was just a small child. I saw how Senior treated his son. To me he was never a father to his son."

"You knew Tony when his was a child?"

Tac looked out the window from where he stood, "I knew Tony right after his mother died. Senior had left on one of his business trips. He had hired a nanny to watch his young son while he was gone. She used to make him stay in his room all the time. If it weren't for me he would have had nobody to play with. His nanny used to also whip him for no reason. I tried to get her back for that but when Tony found out he made me promise not to hurt her." Tac turned and looked at the senior agent, "Would you believe senior later married her. She convinced him to send his son away to boarding school so she would not have to watch him anymore."

"I wouldn't care about what Tony said, I would have made the bitch pay.

Tac smiled, "Believe me Gibbs, she did pay at the end. I only wished I could have done it to Senior too but no matter what Tony still loves his father and that is the only reason I leave him alone."

The agent could understand the creature's bad feelings toward Senior he felt the same way himself. He decided to change the subject, "Can I ask who and what you are?"

Tac smiled, "My real name is Tackdeillseilfjsltleuladkd but Tony just calls me Tac because he could never pronounce my name. My kind has been around longer than your human race. We once number in the millions but now there are very few of us left these days. We love younglings but we cannot produce them anymore and we miss them dearly. So, we have attached ourselves to the unwanted and unloved human children. It is the only thing that keeps us from going extinct."

Just then, both Gibbs and Tac could hear a groan coming from the floor. Tac quickly changed back into Thomas.

Gibbs bent down to check on his friend. Ducky seemed like he was trying to wake up.

He looked up at Thomas as he pulled out his cellphone, "I bet, I know someone who can tell us exactly where Tony is going to be taken."

"McGee..."

"Boss…the bus is on its way. It should be there in just a few minutes. Boss…boss please don't cut me off this time. The power has been out in the building and we are working with emergency lighting only. Boss…how did you two get out of the interrogation room without going by us?"

"McGee, I need you to have Mathis waiting in the interrogation room when I get there. If anyone knows where DiNozzo is it would be him." Gibbs hung up before McGee could say anything else.

Ducky opened his eyes. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and what had happened, "Jethro…I am so sorry. They got Anthony, didn't they?"

"Ducky… it wasn't your fault…so don't go blaming yourself besides you could not have stopped it from happening anyway." Gibbs helped the older man to sit up.

"White and Dean?"

"They are both dead."

Ducky looked at Thomas, "Young man, if I find out you had anything to do with this, I will enjoy having you on my autopsy table."

"Ducky, don't worry. Thomas had nothing to do with this."

"How do you know?"

Gibbs just smiled, "Ducky because I know and I will explain it at another time."

_**The Interrogation Room…**_

Once the truck arrived to pick up the bodies, Gibbs, Thomas and Ducky headed back to NCIS in Gibbs Challenger. By the time they got there the power was back on throughout the building. McGee had Jack Mathis waiting in the interrogation room. Thomas stayed with Ducky while Gibbs went to talk with Vance.

When he was finished in the director's office, Gibbs told Thomas to wait in the observation room with McGee and Ziva. At first, the two NCIS agents felt a little uncomfortable standing next to Thomas because they knew he had something to do with them being forcefully pushed into the hallway wall earlier today. As soon as Gibbs walked into the interrogation room, both McGee and Ziva turned their attention toward the window.

A very nervous Mathis had been sitting in the room for over an hour when the door flew open. Gibbs walked in and sat down at the table. "Look Mathis, I have very little time, I want you to tell me where my agent is and you better tell me now." Jack knew he had no choice. "Williams took him to a very well guarded compound that is about fifty miles south of Tijuana."

"How well guarded?"

"It's a fortress. There are at least twenty-five trained ex soldiers guarding that place. You give them the right money they will do anything for you. You will never be able to get in there and get DiNozzo out alive. There are too many of them."

Gibbs gave him his famous stare and then said. "I want to know the exact location of the place. You are going to draw me the layout of the building and tell me where every guards is located. I also want to know exactly where they will be holding DiNozzo. If you lie about anything I will personally make sure you disappear and nobody ever hears from you again." Gibbs handed him some paper and a pencil. Jack did as he was told. Once the senior agent got the information he needed, Mathis was escorted back to the holding cell. Gibbs planned to keep him there until the mission was completed. He didn't want Williams to get wind that Mathis had been arrested by NCIS.

Gibbs and McGee headed to MTAC. The senior agent wanted to get some satellite photos of the area around the compound and the compound itself. He wanted to compare them with Mathis' information and drawings. They could not afford to have any mistakes or surprises. Once he got the photos he met with his team and Thomas. Gibbs informed the team that he was only going to take Thomas with him to the compound. When they tried to argue with him, he put an end to it immediately. The plan was for Gibbs and Thomas to ride up to the compound and surrender. Once inside, it will be up to them to figure out what they needed to do next to get themselves and Tony out alive. Ducky and two agents will be waiting at a small airport about fifteen miles to the north of the compound. Five miles from the compound, McGee and Ziva will be waiting at the rendezvous point with a SUV ready to take them to the airport.

_**Fifty miles south of Tijuana, Mexico…**_

Just outside the compound Gibbs and Thomas stood with their hands up in the air. They were waiting for the guards to finish searching them. Their hands were then roughly tied behind their backs. One of the guards signaled them to move forward.

Williams was waiting just inside the courtyard. He walked over to the ex-marine, "Well, Gibbs it's been a long time since I have seen you."

Gibbs didn't want to make any small talk with the man, "Where is DiNozzo?"

"He's inside. I have been keeping him for you."

"You have me now. Let both Carter and DiNozzo go."

"Why should I do that? I am only halfway through with my plans and those plans include both DiNozzo and you."

"Sullivan…please…let…them…go. You can do whatever you want to me. I won't fight you."

Williams laughed, "There is no way in hell I am letting DiNozzo go, I want you both." Williams looked at Thomas; "But…I have no use for this one." Williams grinned and signaled to one of his men to come forward. He pointed at Thomas. The man walked over and shot Thomas in the head and he fell to the ground. Two of the guards dragged the limp body away.

Gibbs just stood there and didn't know what to say. He hoped to God that Thomas was just faking it and he was really okay but right now the agent wasn't too sure.

As William started to walk away he yelled to Gibbs, "I am going to have my men take you to see your boy so you can spend some time with him. I will see you a little later."

Gibbs was pushed inside the main section of the building and down a long hall. They stopped in front one of the doors. While one of the men opened the door, the other one untied Gibb's hands. The guard then pushed the federal agent into the room and the door was shut and locked behind him. It was dark and he could barely see a few feet in front of him. It took him a few seconds to realize he wasn't alone.

"DiNozzo!" He moved quickly and knelt down in front of the younger man who was just rocking back and forth. The senior agent hugged the younger man. Tony stopped rocking but he didn't say a word.

"I am so sorry Tony."

Williams smiled as he watched the monitor. "Well, Gibbs it's been along time but I am now going to get you back for what you did to me and my son."

After a couple of hours passed, Williams walked out into the hallway and ordered his men to bring Gibbs to him. It didn't take them long to return with the federal agent. Gibbs was forced to sit as they strapped him into a chair.

"I want you to watch what is going to happen to DiNozzo. How do you think he is going to take being back in that padded cell again? I bet you he is not going to like it at all."

Gibbs looked up at the monitor. At first, he only saw an empty white padded room. It looked exactly like the one Tony was in before. A few seconds later, Gibbs watched as Tony was being shoved into the room. The younger man didn't react to where he was at first. He just stood there. After a while, the green eyes started to move around. When it finally registered to him where he was, he backed up against the wall and slowly started to slide down it. "No…no…no…no…nooo."

Williams laughed out loud as he bent down so he could whisper into Gibbs' ear. "Can you just imagine what is going through your boy's mind right now? To realized that he is back in that damn room again. Can you imagine what he is thinking at this moment? When I am through with your boy he is never going to be the same. No amount of therapy is ever going to help bring him back."

Gibbs turned and looked at the man with such hatred in his eyes, "Sullivan, you better kill me because if I ever get my hands a hold of you I will make you wish you never existed."

Williams stepped back and laughed even more, "Ooohhhh Gibbs, I don't plan for you to ever leave this place alive. I want you to watch your boy for a while and then I plan to kill you. I haven't quite decided what I want to do with him just yet. I might kill him along with you or drop him somewhere in the middle of the desert and leave him there. How long do you think someone like him can survive out there with all those animals and that heat?" Williams took one last look at the monitor and laughed as he walked out of the room. He was going to let Gibbs watch for a little while.

About five minutes had passed since Williams left the room. Gibbs looked at the monitor again and noticed that Tony had not made a sound or movement at all. He could tell that DiNozzo had shut down.

He was trying to figure out how he was going to get DiNozzo out of here. He was concentrating so hard; he didn't notice he was being watched. He nearly jumped when he felt someone or something touch his shoulder.

"Gibbs, I didn't think you were the jumpy type."

Gibbs looked up and was never so glad to see the color purple. "What took you so long? I thought you said getting shot was only a sting to you?"

Tac smiled as he undid the straps, "It's kind of hard to get back here when those stupid guards were taking forever to dump my dead body."

Tac grew very angry when he looked up and saw what was on the monitor. "Gibbs, let's get our child out of here."

As soon as Gibbs stood up, Tac opened the door. The two guards nearly freaked out when they saw this purplish looking thing coming out of the room that they were supposed to be guarding. Once they got their composure back they tried to stop the it and Gibbs, from leaving. Tac used his powers to slam them as hard as he could against the wall. Gibbs could hear bones breaking. He watched as the two men fell to the floor. The walls were covered with blood.

As Gibbs picked up one of the guns he couldn't help but say something, "Remind me to never make you angry."

Tac turned and smiled, "Oh Gibbs, this is not anger. I won't be angry until I see Williams."

Gibbs took one last look at the two dead men and was so glad that he was on Tac's good side.

It didn't take them long to find the room where they were keeping Tony. Mathis' information was correct. The door flew open as Tac entered the room. The creature bent down and picked Tony up as if he was just a small child. He told Gibbs to stand near him. Within seconds, they were miles from the compound. They appeared just about a quarter of a mile from the rendezvous point. They didn't want McGee or Ziva to see Tac in his true form. Tac quickly changed back into Thomas. He carried Tony the rest of the way. Thomas laid Tony down gently in the back seat of the SUV. Gibbs got into the driver's side while McGee road shotgun and Ziva sat in the back with the unconscious man. She had Tony's head on her lap.

Gibbs realized Thomas was not going to go with them. He got out of the car and walked a little way from the car so nobody could hear them.

"You are not coming with us?"

Thomas just smiled, "I have something to take care of first."

"Williams?"

"Yes."

Gibbs knew there was nothing he could do or say that was going to stop Thomas from seeking revenge. The senior agent wished he could go with him but he had to get Tony to safety. He finally said, "Can you do me a big favor?"

"Yes, what is it?"

Gibbs signaled him to move closer. Thomas moved close enough so Gibbs could whisper something into his ear.

Thomas laughed and told him he would do it.

It was almost dark outside by the time Tac returned to the compound. He grinned because he knew there would also be no power throughout the building. It happens every time he teleports. For some reason, it always messes up the generators and that is why he tries to not use it so much.

Williams had been in his room trying to call Jack when the power went out. He grabbed his flashlight and wondered what the hell was going on. He walked out into the hallway and he could hear the sounds of people yelling and a couple of rifles going off. It was a few seconds later when everything went quiet. He wondered if the federal agents had found them. If they have, he knew it wouldn't be long before they would free Gibbs and DiNozzo. He wasn't going to let that happen. He ran back into his room and grabbed his gun. He headed toward the padded room. He was going to take care of DiNozzo first and then go after Gibbs. There was no way in hell he was going to let anyone mess up his plans.

A few minutes later, he was standing in the padded room with a flashlight wondering how it could have happened. How did DiNozzo get out of the room? He knew DiNozzo was in not shape to leave this room by himself or for someone to come in and get him.

As Williams was standing there he didn't notice he was being watched until it was too late. He backed up when he saw something dark moving toward him. He felt himself being grabbed and a needle being jabbed into his neck. He never had time to use his gun."

Tac whispered into his left ear, "Is this not one of the drugs you use on my child to paralyze him so you can torment him? You are going to pay dearly for what you did."

Williams fell to the floor and tried to move but he couldn't. He just lied there. He was totally paralyzed except for some slight eye movement he was only able to do. He watched as the strange creature walked around him. It kept babbling to him about how he hurt its child and he was going to be punished for it. Williams didn't understand what the thing was talking about. What child?

Time passed, Williams had no idea how long he had laid there but he knew it must have been at least a couple of days. Finally he saw some movement. It was the creature. It had returned. It moved closer to him, "How did you like your time in this room? It has been only three days and I wanted you to feel what my child went through because you wanted to punish Gibbs. The authorities are finally here, they are going around collecting all the dead bodies to bury."

It was another hour before he could hear people walking into the room. They were saying something in Spanish, which he didn't understand. They dragged Williams' body out into the courtyard. Williams tried to signal someone to let them know he was still alive but nobody noticed. His body was placed inside a wooden box. It was at that moment Williams realized that he had been placed inside a coffin. He tried his best but he couldn't move. The men walked away.

A few seconds later, one of the local deputies was looking into the coffin. Williams tried to get his attention with his eyes. He needed to let this man know he was alive and not to bury him. The man looked at him and smiled. Williams watched as the brown eyes changed into dark purple catlike eyes with red specs in them.

"Don't worry you will not have much longer to suffer. I just want you to remember what you did to my child all those months. I want you to remember how alone he must have felt locked in that room. I then want you to remember all those things when you take your last breath of air."

Tac let out a loud laugh as he was closing the lid. About halfway he stopped, "Oh by the way, Gibbs wanted me to relay a message to you since he could not be here at this time. He told me to tell you to GO…TO…HELL."

Williams watched as the lid to the coffin was shut the rest of the way. A few seconds later, he could hear hammering. It would have been totally dark in the coffin if it were not for light coming through the cracks between the cheaply made coffin. He felt the coffin being lifted. He could tell they must have put it in some kind of vehicle. They travel for a short distance. He could feel them unloading the coffin. He then felt himself being lowered into the ground. Lastly, he could hear the sound of dirt hitting the lid. He tried to scream but nothing happen because he was still paralyzed. Dirt started hitting him through the cracks and then darkness came. He knew now there was no escape and only darkness…


	11. Chapter 11

_Again thank you always for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate any feedback you would like to give._

_Please remember _

_**Purple creature**__ – Tac_

_**Human form**__ – Thomas_

_If I mess up please forgive me._

_This is my last chapter and I hope you enjoy._

_**Chapter 11**_

_**Mexico…**_

The deputy shoveled the last bit of dirt onto the grave. He stood there for a few minutes while the other went off to finish burying the rest of the dead. He had promised himself that he would not leave until he made sure that bastard was buried. Now it was time for him to go and check on his child. He had been away from him too long.

_**Gibbs' House…**_

When Tac appeared in the living room, it was dark except for the light shining through the living room windows. For a moment, he thought nobody was home but then he could sense a life form moving around down in the basement. He knew who it was and headed toward door leading into the basement. As he descended the steps his keen sense of smell told him that Gibbs had been drinking. The smell of bourbon was very strong.

Gibbs didn't bother to even look up because he knew immediately who it was walking down the stairs. "Is it over?"

"Yes."

"Did you give him…my message?"

"I sure did."

Tac could sense something was not quite right? He was wondering why Gibbs was here and alone, "Gibbs, where is our child?"

Gibbs closed his eyes for a second when he realized how much he had been drinking. At the moment he believed, if he hadn't been holding on to the table he would have fallen flat on his face. "To…Tony is at the hospital. We took him there right after we returned to DC. He started having seizures. Ducky is stay…staying with him to…night to give me some time to think."

Tac moved closer, "What do you need to think about?"

"Smith told me today there is a very slim chance that Tony will ever be normal again. He said between the drugs and the time he spent in the damn room and the seizures he doesn't believe there is any hope for Tony ever returning to a normal life. He believes the best thing for him right now is a nursing home where they have the right equipment and personnel who can take care of him properly. I tried to argue with him but Ducky told me to go home. He is going to stay…stay with DiNozzo so I can…can have some time to think? I need to make a decision to put him in a nursing home or not."

Tac looked at Gibbs, "How can you even think about putting him away. I won't let you. Tony doesn't deserve this. He needs to be with his family. He needs to be with us."

Gibbs looked at him, "I didn't say I would."

"But you are thinking about it?"

"Yes, I am just thinking about it and that is all. I want what will be best for DiNozzo. If I keep him here at the house will that be best for him?"

Tac looked at the human, "If you send my child away I will take him from you and you will never see him again. I promise you that much."

Gibbs looked at the creature. "I care for Tony just as much as you do. If keeping him here is the best thing for him then I will do it. If I am just keeping him here to make us feel good inside that is not helping him. I need to know we are doing the right thing for him."

Tac understood what Gibbs was saying but he still didn't like it. All he could think about was that lonely child who was sent away to boarding school so many years ago. He felt like it was happening to Tony again.

"Can we at least try?"

The next morning, Thomas stayed with Tony while Gibbs and Ducky talked with the doctor about Tony going to stay with Gibbs. Smith was not too happy with the decision but he knew there was not much he could do to stop them. He knew these people care a lot for his patient and he really didn't blame them. The doctor told them if Tony didn't have any more seizures in the next two days he should be able to go home.

For the next two days, Ducky and Gibbs went to work as usual. Thomas stayed with Tony in the hospital. During that time, Tony's seizures, so the doctor went ahead signed his release so he could leave in the morning.

It was after visiting hours, Gibbs and Ducky were still at NCIS. Thomas was sitting by Tony's bed. He was bored out of his mind with nothing to do. He was never one to like watching TV. He only did it because of Tony. He couldn't wait until they got Tony back to Gibbs' house so he could start helping his child without any witnesses around. He looked up as Smith's assistance entered the room. He could tell the man looked surprise and nervous to see him sitting there. "Sorry Thomas…I thought visiting hours were over and I was going to wait until everyone was gone so I can give him he's meds."

"Since Tony is going home in the morning and I will be helping to take care of him, they told me I could stay as long as I wanted. I plan to stay the night."

Thomas stood up and moved a little closer to the man, he was curious because he knew Tony had already been given his medication and he wasn't supposed to have anything else for another few hours. "Mike…I don't recall him needing anything else for tonight. What are you giving him?"

Mike knew he had been caught so he turned and ran out of the room. He had promised Williams if anything should go wrong with the plan he would take care of DiNozzo himself. He knew he needed to get as far away from here as he could before Gibbs got a hold of him. Once he was outside Mike hurried to his car. It didn't take him long to get to the highway. He really didn't care which direction he took because he just needed to get the hell away there and as fast as he could.

About twenty minutes later he was a good distance from the hospital. It was dark and the highway had very few cars on it. All he had to do now was keep driving and it wouldn't be long before he was out of state. He started to relax just a little. He reached over to change the station on the radio. As he was doing it he didn't notice a deer running out on the road until it was too late. He swerved to miss it. His car drove off the road though a fence and headed straight toward a lake. Once it hit the water, he tried to undo his seatbelt but he couldn't get it to release. The water was filling in fast and he was struggling to free himself...

Tac stood on the bank and watched as the car slowly sank beneath the surface. Tac smiled a little and then disappeared.

Since Tony was going to be coming home tomorrow both Gibbs and Ducky decided to take some time off from work. They got the okay from Vance. Both men wanted to help Thomas get Tony settled in. The next day, Ducky had arranged for an ambulance to bring Tony to Gibbs house. Ducky stayed until Tony was settled in for the night and then he headed home. He told Gibbs that he would be back in the morning.

It was a few minutes after Ducky had left; Thomas and Gibbs were both sitting in the kitchen. "Gibbs…I didn't want to mention this earlier while Ducky was here. There is something I can do that might bring our child back to us but I will need your help with it."

Gibbs looked at the Thomas; "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get DiNozzo back."

"I am not sure if you will want to do this, once you hear what I have to say."

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee, "Thomas…just get straight to the point so I can decide if I want to do it or not."

"I have the ability to go inside Tony's mind."

"You have the ability to do what?"

"I can go inside his mind and maybe help him to come back from wherever he is."

Gibbs looked hopeful, "If you can do this, why haven't you done this sooner to help Tony?"

Thomas looked at him; "It's something that my kind only does to each other. It's not easy for me to do with humans. I have already done it a couple of times with Tony right after he was first taken. It was very uncomfortable for me but I was able to do it. It is why you started seeing an improvement with him."

"Why don't you just do it now?"

"Gibbs, it's not as easy as that sounds. First, I have to get him to show some kind of awareness. Right now, he is not showing anything. It is only when he does it…I can enter his mind."

Gibbs thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "I think I might know how to get our boy to do that."

"If you can do that, we could then slip inside his mind."

Gibbs looked at him, "Wait a minute, what do you mean by we can slip into his mind?"

"Gibbs…our Tony is hiding too deep within his mind. I won't be able to get him out by myself. I was barely about to do it the last time."

"Why me?"

"Of all the people who knows him you are the closest one to him. I have watched the two of you over the years. I know he will listen to you. I have seen it. If anyone can get him to come out of his hiding place it will be you."

"Alright what do I have to do?"

"Go close the shades in the living room and lock all the doors. I do not want anyone to walk in on us doing this."

Thomas knew they were going to need a much bigger space for what was about to happen. He went upstairs to get Tony. He carried the unconscious man down the stairs and into the living room. He had Gibbs sat down first. He placed Tony between Gibbs legs so the older man can support him in a sitting position on the mat.

Tac sat down on the mat in front of them, "We have to get Tony to show some kind of awareness. It won't take much but it needs to be done. The last time I did this, Tony was watching a movie but I don't think it is going to work this time. You said you have something in mind? So, what is it?"

Gibbs looked at Tony and then backed to Tac. He smiled and surprised the hell of Tac when he smacked the back of Tony's head. Tony opened his eyes and blinked.

Gibbs smiled and looked at Tac, "Will this do?"

Tac was taken aback a little because he didn't expect Gibbs to hit their child. "Yes…I think it will work."

Tac closed his eyes and placed both his hands on each side of Tony's face. Gibbs closed his eyes. Within seconds they were in Tony's mind. Gibbs was standing next to Tac. He looked around and saw that they were both standing in the middle of a wheat fields. There was very little wind blowing and it was so quiet. Tac saw the big tree and headed toward it. Gibbs didn't say a word but followed closely behind him. When they arrived at the tree they found an unconscious adult Tony laying down in a fetal position under it.

Blue eyes looked at the dark purple eyes. "What do we do now?"

"We try and wake him up?"

"How do we do that?"

The creature knelt down behind the unconscious man. Gibbs sat directly in front of them.

Tac called Tony's name but nothing happened. He tried to wake him up by touch but still nothing happen. Tac looked at Gibbs. It was his turned to try. Gibbs bent closer to Tony's ear. "DiNozzo it's time to wake up." Still nothing. Gibbs tapped the unconscious man on the head and then yelled into his ear, "DiNozzo get your ass up or I am going to kick it in tomorrow." They both watched as the younger man sat up straight. "Sorry Boss, it won't happen again."

Tac couldn't believe that was all it took to wake up Tony but then he remembered that time the young man had the plague. He remembered what Gibbs did to get him to survive. He started laughing out loud and Gibbs joined in. Tony slowly looked around. He was confused as to where he was. He wondered how he got in the middle of a field? Why was everything gray? He took at Gibbs, "Boss, where the hell are we?"

Gibbs started laughing even harder and pointed behind the younger man. Tony turned and saw someone he had not seen in years. "Tac? What…what are you doing here?"

The creature smiled and grabbed him. He held his child as tightly as he could without breaking any of his bones. Tony did everything he could to push him away but it didn't work. Gibbs just sat there and grinned and he watched the exchange between the creature and the human.

After a little while Tac finally let him go, "Smiley, I missed you so much."

Tony looked at Tac and then Gibbs, "You…you two know each other?"

They both nodded their heads. Tony knew he was in big trouble if these two knew each other. "How?"

Gibbs spoke first, "Tony, we will explain it all to you later. How do you feel?"

"I feel very tired but fine. Where are we Boss? What to hell is this place?"

"DiNozzo, I hate saying this but we are in your mind."

Tony grinned, "Come on Boss, how can you be in my mind?" Then he remembered Tac was here and turned to him. Tac was just smiling.

"Okay…why are you in my mind?"

"Tony how much do you remember?"

"Remember?"

"Yes, what do you last remember doing?"

Tony thought about it. "Boss…I'm sorry but I can't remember anything. Why can't I remember?"

"Tony, do worry about it as I said earlier we will explain it later."

Gibbs looked at Tac, "Okay what do we do now?"

Tac looked at Tony and touched his face, "My child, we are going to have to leave you now. You will sleep." Tony closed his eyes and did as he was told. Tac turned to Gibbs "We must leave now."

Gibbs opened his eyes and they were sitting on the mat in his living room. He could feel Tony's weight against him. He smiled when he heard soft snoring. He could tell Tony was sound asleep.

Tac looked at Gibbs, "He is going to sleep for a while but once he wakes up he should be fine. What we did was very exhausting to him. He will probably sleep for a couple of days."

Tac picked up his child and carried him up to his room and put him to bed.

When Ducky arrived the next day he was surprised and very please to find Tony was just only sleeping. He tried to ask Thomas and Gibbs what had happen but both men acted like they had no clue as to why Tony was just sleeping now. The older man felt they were keeping something from him but he wasn't going to push it. Every few hours one of them would wake up the younger man to make sure he drank some water or ate a little bit of food. Tony was just too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

It was on the third day when Tony finally woke up. He was still very tired and weak from his ordeal but at least he was aware of his surroundings. Ducky was fussing over him like he was just a little child. The M.E. couldn't believe that Tony had finally awakened. Word spread to the others that Tony was finally awake. They wanted to see him but Gibbs told them that it would be another couple of days before they could come over. He wanted to give Tony some time before he was bombarded by all the well-wishers.

Tony was sitting on the couch in the living room watching a movie when he fell asleep. Thomas was sitting in the living room watching Tony sleep. Gibbs had a cup of coffee in his hand. He sat down in the recliner. "You know Gibbs this is not the first time we have shared a child together?"

Gibbs took a sip of coffee, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember a boy by the name of Josh Myers?

Gibbs smiled, "Yah, he was by best friend when I was growing up. We went into the Marine Corps together, "Wait…don't tell me Josh was one of your children?"

"He was for a very short time. That is until you took him from me."

"I took him from you? Josh was such a happy kid. How could he be one of yours?"

"He was not always that way."

_**It was over fifty years ago… **_

_Tac had gone to Stillwater, PA because he sensed a child in pain. The boy's father and mother were going through some very bad times. The father drank a lot and he was always beating up on his wife. A few days ago, the drunken man had turned on his own child and tried to kill him. His wife got in between them and stopped it. The very next day, she took her child and fled to Stillwater, PA. She had some cousins who lived there and they agreed to take her and her son in. The boy who had always loved his father was now traumatized after what he father had done to him. He had not talked for the last couple of days after that. _

_They had been in Stillwater for about a week when the boy decided to go outside and sat on the porch swing. He was watching some children-playing ball across the street when he felt something touch his leg. He looked down and it was a shaggy looking dog wanting to be patted. He smiled at it and patted it on the head. It didn't take long for the dog to get the boy to laugh. _

_His mother had heard him laugh and looked outside. She didn't see anyone but her son. Maybe she was just hearing things. She went back into the kitchen to finish getting dinner ready. It was around dinner when her son finally spoke to her. He told her about his furry little friend and he called the dog Tac. He asked his mother if he could bring some food out for the dog and she told him she could. She followed him out to the porch and watched as he put the plate of food on the floor. Next, she watched with sadness as her son patted empty air… _

_A week later the boy was walking across the street to the park. He was sitting on a swing watching the dog doing all kinds of trick for him. He started laughing._

"_What are you laughing at?"_

_The boy looked up and saw another boy looked at him. "What?"_

"_What are you laughing at?"_

"_My dog?"_

_The boy looked around, "What dog? There is no dog here."_

_Josh looked and the dog was now gone. "You must have scared him."_

"_I did not. You are new here? What is your name?"_

"_My name is Josh…Josh Myers. What is your name?"_

"_My name is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Would you like to be my friend?"_

_It wasn't long after that Josh forgot all about his dog Tac…_

_**Present time.**_

Gibbs grinned. He remembered that day in the park; "I never knew that about Josh. He never said anything to me about his father. I had always thought he died or something. My friend always just seemed so happy."

"Most children will not tell you bad things about their family. They are always ashamed. Most believe it is their fault when parents act they way they do or split up."

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee, "You know Josh was the reason I went into the Marine Corps. We went through boot camp together. He was killed in Desert Storm."

"I know, I felt it when it happened."

Gibbs looked at the man and asked, "Do you feel that way with each child you become attached to?"

"Yes and it hurts every time I lose one of my children."

Gibbs looked over at the sleeping Tony, "I guess in many ways I should consider myself lucky because of the parents I had and have."

"Gibbs, your mother was a very good woman and I am sorry you lost her at such a young age. You are also very lucky to have someone like Jackson as your father. I wish all my children had caring parents like you did. I know you had issues with your father but he is really a good man. You should be very proud of him."

Gibbs smiled, "It took me a while but I finally realized how special my father is. I especially realized it after I met Tony's and Ziva's fathers."

The next morning as soon as Tony woke up he was hungry. Thomas wanted to make him a big breakfast but Ducky wouldn't hear of it. He didn't want Tony to eat too much because he was worried Tony stomach might not be able to handle too much at the moment. Tony argued with the older man but he wouldn't give in. Ducky promised him if he can handle the breakfast he might let him eat a bigger lunch. When Ducky wasn't looking both Gibbs and Thomas slipped Tony some of their eggs and bacon. Five minutes later, Ducky was handing Tony a small wastebasket. The younger man lost all of his breakfast.

"Well, young Anthony it looks like you are only going to have broth and maybe some Jell-O for lunch and if you behave I might throw in some crackers with it."

For the next few days, Tony felt like he had three mother hens watching every movement he makes. He couldn't find any place in the house without one of them checking on him every few minutes. He was so relieved when Abby, Ziva and McGee showed up and were a distraction. They spent the afternoon with him watching old movies and going over what had happen during Tony time's missing and convalescing. At one point, Tony got Abby alone and begged her to get him the hell out of Gibbs' house for a little while. Abby told Tony she would see what she could do.

The following week, Thomas thought it was time for him to leave. There was no reason he needed to be there anymore. Tony was getting better, so the younger man had been talking to Gibbs about it being time for him to start looking for an apartment for himself. Thomas said his goodbyes to everyone and left. He told Tony to take care of himself. Tony hugged him and thanked him for all his help.

That weekend was Sister Rosita's birthday. Abby talked Gibbs' into letting Tony go with her to visit the nuns. She promised she would keep an eye on Tony and not to let him get into any trouble. Tony didn't care where he went, he was just happy to get out of the house.

As they were driving down the road Tony noticed they were not heading to the convent. They were heading downtown. "Abby, we just missed the turnoff.

Abby was smiling, "Yes and that is because we are not going there. Tony, there is this new place that just opened. It has some great music and dancing. We all thought you needed to get away for a while."

"We?"

"Yes, the gang is all there…Ziva…McGee. Palmer is bringing Breena with him. Oh we also have a surprise guest for you. We ran into someone we think you might like to see."

Tony laughed he was so glad to finally be having some fun. It had been a long time coming. He thought the world of Ducky and Gibbs but he needed some fun time.

Abby parked the car and they both headed toward the music. Tony just couldn't wait to get inside. He couldn't wait to order a drink for himself. As they entered the building the music was loud and the place was crowded. Abby yelled to him when she saw McGee, Palmer and Breena sitting at the table. She then yelled to McGee. He looked up and waved them over to the table.

As they got there, Abby asked, "Where Ziva and our surprise guest?"

"They are out on the floor dancing. They should be back shortly."

Tony looked at the dance floor to see if he could see Ziva but he couldn't. He wondered who was with her?"

McGee signaled for the waitress, when she got there he looked at Tony. "Hey Tony, what would you like? I'm buying?"

Tony went to order but stopped when he saw who was with Ziva. The smile left his face. "I'll have a ginger ale with ice."

He couldn't believe his luck. Of all the people they invited it had to be Thomas. He knew immediately that if he ordered anything stronger than ginger ale both Gibbs and Ducky were going to hear about it. While the others danced and drank, Tony sat there nursing his ginger ale. He was going to be so happy when he gets his own apartment…


End file.
